When Two Pasts Collide
by Tigeresssa
Summary: Aria, a headstrong human girl with a secret and a knack for getting herself and others into trouble meets Kouga, the strong yet dense wolf demon prince. No other way to describe it other than a rather twisted, fluffy, love story! KougaxOC
1. Chapter 1: Wanderer Meets Demon

**Auhtor's Note: **

**Alright I decided to try this story again because I didn't like the way it was going before, I'm too lazy to rearrange the whole thing and make you read it again, and I couldn't be bothered racking my brain for another title so...**

**SORRY but here is the new and hopefully improved version of the story!**

**Enjoy and PLEASE REVIEW!**

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The village lay in ruins; the hordes of demons that had destroyed it long vanished. The young woman's legs gave way beneath her, leaving her kneeling down before her desecrated home. She slammed a fist into the ground, leaving a dent in the dirt matching her knuckles. After letting a few tears fall she got onto her feet and walked through the village.

She made every attempt to avoid looking at the mangled bodies decorating the debris but couldn't help but sob whenever she recognized a face frozen in an expression of agony. She still wasn't sure how she had managed to escape the onslaught of demons but she sorely regretted not staying with her village, even if it meant she would also become a human puzzle that would never be able to be put back together again. Silence surrounded her and the ruined village, only broken sobs momentarily cut through the silence but nothing more. An unfamiliar groan of pain alerted the woman to a pile of rubble that used to be one of her neighbor's houses.

Running over to the rubble, she began hauling away large chunks of wood and stone to find the source of the human sounds. Finally she unearthed a bruised and dirt covered body. Pulling the still living person out of the debris her experience as a healer made her aware of the large gaping wound on the person's stomach. As soon as the person was out of the rubble, she ripped off a bit of her skirt and pressed the cloth onto the wound, trying to staunch the flow of blood. Once the bleeding stopped, she found a bowl that wasn't too broken and collected some water from the half-decimated village well. She then proceeded to clean the dirt from the cuts and scrapes on the person's body.

"What are you doing human?" a low weak voice suddenly asked her. Snapping out of her concentration, she then looked at the person properly. He had pointed ears, a tail and wore wolf pelts. Not a person. A demon. A wolf demon. She nearly stumbled back but dutifully ignored her instincts to run and continued on her task.

"Healing you. Why does it matter? You can kill me later if you really want," she replied, not making eye-contact.

"I was wondering why a human would go near a wolf demon. Every human knows that demons will kill and eat you. Though _I_ won't kill you, I'm just curious," croaked the wolf demon.

The woman frowned as every word he spoke caused more blood to seep out of the wound, "Please don't speak, you'll hurt your wound and throat more. What use would all my hard work be if you purposely ruin your throat as well? You are wounded and I can help you. Who am I to say I won't help you if I easily can? Demon or not, you need care for these wounds and you are in no state to do so yourself. Does that end your curiosity?" The wolf demon nodded and relaxed, letting the woman finished cleaning and bandaging his injuries. When she was done, she stood up and looked down at the demon.

"I just want a yes or no but…was it you and your pack that attacked our village?" she asked the demon at her feet struggling not to let her voice betray her despair. The demon shook his head. No. The woman nodded her understanding and then exhaled slowly. "Then I shall stay until your pack comes to find you. In the meantime I'm going to see if there are any more survivors," she said, moving off to do as she promised. The demon looked at her in confusion, wondering if all humans were as odd as her.

By the time the sun had begun to set, the young woman had rescued another two wolf demons but it appeared not a single human from her village had survived. None of the wolf demons had claimed to have attacked her village, but were nearby when the rest of the demons attacked. Just as she was finishing bandaging a broken arm on one of the demons, something closed around her neck, lifting her into the air. Through the black spots that formed in her vision, accompanied with the lack of air, she realised it was another wolf demon. Only this demon was hardly injured and if the red tint that was seeping in from the edges of his eyes, he was positively furious rather than confused or grateful. She made no attempts to release herself from the iron grip that was threatening to end her life. She only stared at the bright blue eyes rimmed with red belonging to the demon that held her.

"What are you doing human?" the demon holding her growled. She blinked for a few seconds in surprise. That was the second time she had been asked that today. What _was _she doing?

Ignoring her burning lungs, her eyes narrowed. Something about the way this demon was behaving irked her. "Healing these wolves stupid! Now you've gone and ruined a perfectly good bandage and I have to start again! Good work genius," she scolded, getting more and more irritated. The hand around her throat tightened, choking the woman. Cries of protest suddenly sounded from the rescued wolves. She watched as her captor's eyes slid to the other wolf demons and widened slightly in suprise. Reluctantly, the woman was released from the demon's death-grip and she sank to the ground gasping for air. Once she had caught her breath, she turned to the demon whose arm she was supposed to have finished bandaging.

"Sorry. That must have hurt your arm when I pulled on the bandage," she apologized to the demon as she began to re-bandage his arm.

The demon who had tried to kill her stood behind her, "What's your name woman?"

When she had finished bandaging the other demon's arm, she turned to glare at the demon behind her, "Aria. You?"

The demon growled, "Kouga."

"Kouga, are you the alpha to this group of wolves?" the woman known as Aria inquired quietly.

The demon, Kouga frowned, "Yeah."

Aria stood up to face him, "Why on earth were you not protecting them? As alpha, aren't you supposed to take care of your pack?"

"Well yeah but-"

"Well you are doing a horrible job! You may as well have put a sign over their heads saying 'demon bait'! I don't care about your policies on humans, kill me or not, I will see to it that these wolves are restored to full health properly before I leave again; I won't leave a job half-done."

Kouga stared at the small human woman helping one of his men to his feet in disbelief. How dare she tell him what to do? He opened his mouth to speak but before he could say anything, she turned her head and glared, silencing him. Kouga growled and also went to help his friends onto their feet. Every now and then he glared at Aria. Damn his promise to Kagome about not killing humans. _'What kind of human heals, escorts and scolds demons as if she does it every other day?_' Kouga growled to himself. Suddenly something collided with Kouga's forehead. Looking down, he saw it was a now shattered bowl.

"Hey! No time for daydreaming! We have to get your men back to wherever you live and quickly!" Aria yelled at him. He growled and followed her and the rest of his pack.

_'That woman is nearly as bad as that mutt…_' he thought grimly.

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	2. Chapter 2: Eyeforaneye Wanderer?

Aria woke up and looked at her surroundings. She could see the wolf demons still sleeping around her. Truthfully she was quite amazed none of the demons...especially Kouga...hadn't killed or eaten her yet. She had heard so many rumours about man-eating wolf-demons that she was quite suprised to find she had not yet become a travel snack for her companions.

Her eyes lingered on the brash alpha of the pack, Kouga. He confused her. Normally the alpha could do whatever pleased him. He could have killed her back at the destroyed village, she could see the bloodlust in his bright blue eyes... but he actually listened to his pack. Although Aria was sure he wanted nothing more than to see her body join the rest of the villagers, he let her go. Now she was even travelling with them to their den.

Shaking her head clear of those thoughts, she found a nearby stream to get water and possibly some fish breakfast. Bringing last nights fire back to life, Aria began cooking the fish she had caught, inwardly glad that there was enough to sustain the others at least until they returned to their home. As the injured demons began to wake up, she immediately went to go check on their wounds and tend to any cuts or bruises she may have missed earlier.

Aria could practically feel the eyes of the wolf demons boring into her back as they watched her with intense curiosity. Aria tried to ignore it but the feeling of being scrutinized was only tripled when Kouga woke up. After everyone had finished breakfast in silence, Aria stood up and headed towards the first wolf demon she had rescued.

"Can you please take off your armour?" she asked the demon.

"What?" the demons asked her in disbelief.

Aria rolled her eyes, "Don't be silly! I'm just going to wash them so they don't infect your wounds. Also the smell is somewhat repulsive so please hand me your dirty clothes."

All the demons complied quite easily...except of course, for Kouga. Aria stood in front of him, arms full of smelly armour and wolf pelts waiting impatiently for his own pile of clothes. Kouga just glared back at her.

"Your armour, Kouga," she requested icily. Kouga stood at his full height, looking down on her.

"I'm not injured, you don't need it," he replied tersely.

"Just give me your armour Kouga," she bit back.

"I don't need to do anything _you_ tell me to do!" he told her.

"I'm not asking you to dance for me! I just want to make sure your clothes and armour are clean and stink-free before we go any further. Stop making a fuss and give me your armour," Aria scolded.

Kouga scowled and sat back down, "Make me!"

Fuming, Aria readjusted the pile of pelts and armour to properly glare at him, "Kouga, stop acting childish and-"

"I said make me!"

Aria watched Kouga for a little bit and then asked, "Are you sure?"

Kouga smirked at her, "There's no way a weakling like you could get the better of me...so make me!"

Aria furiously threw the bundle in her arms to the floor and pushed the sleeves of her tattered yukata up past her elbows, "Then I have no choice but to oblige."

Before Kouga could even process what was happening, Aria had pinned him to the ground with more force than he thought she was capable of and was already taking off his chest plate. "Hey! Stupid bitch! Get off me!" he yelled. Aria pulled the armour over his head and stood up, grinning triumphantly. Then quick as a flash, she ran off with the rest of the washing before Kouga could catch up to her.

Kouga watched her retreating form dumbstruck. What kind of crazy woman had he come across? She was stubborn, clearly skillful and intellegent though foolish enough to challenge a demon.

He realised his pack was laughing at him.

"Shut up! All of you!"

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Aria screwed up her nose. When _was _the last time these clothes had been washed? She continued scrubbing furiously at the pelts and armour, trying to erase the stench and remove the grime in the fur. She bit the inside of her cheek and looked at the clothes thoughtfully. Deciding that soaking the clothes in the river for a little while first would help, she came back to the camp.

As she returned to the others, ignoring Kouga's loud protests about her 'attack' on him earlier, she helped one of the injured demons to his feet and led him to the river. Judging by the state of their clothes, Aria figured the demons sorely needed a bath. Letting the demon use her as support, they eventually made it to the water's edge. Getting the demon to sit down, she used a bit of cloth from her dress to start getting the wounded demon clean.

Once he was clean to her satisfaction, she got him to sit in the sun to dry off before going to go get the next demon. Once the injured were good and clean, she returned to the task of washing the clothes.

"You're right...they really do smell..." commented a voice out of the blue. Turning around in shock, she saw Kouga standing right behind her with his face scrunched up.

"What smells? Your clothes or your friends?" Aria said, laughing softly once her initial suprise passed. Her laughter was cut off abruptly whe Kouga leaned forward and whispered in her ear.

"I hope you haven't forgetten you made an idiot out of me not too long ago."

Aria's eyes widened as she felt herself being lifted into the air. She looked down in shock at Kouga's devilish grin.

"No wait! Kouga! Please! You don't know what you're doing!" Aria started.

Kouga placed Aria over his shoulder and walked towards the river, ignoring Aria's cries of protest.

"Kouga! Kouga no! I'm_ very_ sorry! I should not have humiliated you in such a way! I beg your forgiveness! Please listen! KOUGA!"

Kouga stopped and looked at Aria, "Thanks for your apology. However an eye-for-an-eye don't you agree?"

Aria screamed as she was thrown headlong into the river. Resurfacing, she saw Kouga and his pack laughing their heads off. Enraged, she threw the wet and smelly pelt she'd been holding at his face. The two glared at each other for a moment before they heard a loud crash from the forest.

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	3. Chapter 3: Wanderer's Worry

_The two glared at each other for a moment before they heard a loud crash coming from the forest._

Kouga whipped around to face the direction of the noise. After a few moments they heard, "Kouga!"

Realising who it was, Kouga relaxed. Aria made her way out of the cold river and near where the other demons were drying off. She stood between the injured demons and the forest, making sure that if whatever came out was a danger, they'd have to go through her before they tried to kill the very reason she was still following the jack ass who'd thrown her in the river.

Soon two more wolf demons burst through the forest, panting and gasping for breath. 'So they were a part of Kouga's pack,' she thought to herself.

"Kouga! You're too fast! At least wait for us to catch up once in a while!" they complained. Aria noticed one of them had a large scratch on their arm, probably from a branch or something. Quickly tearing yet another bit of damp cloth from the hem of her yukata, she went up to the demon and began cleaning the cut before bandaging the cut, "There! It won't do if that gets infected you know. Kouga what _do _you teach your pack about caring for wounds? Licking them clean won't do a bit of good!" Aria scolded.

As she walked away to check on the others, the two wolf demons leaned in towards Kouga, "Boss, surely you aren't changing your mind about Kagome?"

"No! She's just a stubborn bitch who won't stop babying my men and leave me alone!" he yelled at the two. Aria, over hearing that part of the conversation, hurled his armour at his head. The impact made a very satisfying thud.

"Hey! It's not my fault _you _don't know how to properly care for your own pack! If you're going to be like that, then wash your own clothes! DO IT YOURSELF! ASSHOLE!" she yelled at him.

Kouga, unable to understand why she was so angry, walked over to her, "What the hell's your problem?"

She stood up and turned around. Although she was considerably smaller than Kouga, to him, she suddenly seemed to tower over him with flashing eyes.

"For your information, I happen to be extremely tired because I could hardly sleep last night even though I've been working all day! I'm sick of listening to you and I'm cold and I'm wet and if you didn't already notice, I don't exactly have another clean or _dry set_ of clothes! On top of ALL that, my entire village just got destroyed so please forgive me if I'm not happily obeying your every whim!" she yelled. She turned to the two demons who had now joined them.

"YOU TWO! Get your friends back to the fire to warm up! Be careful you don't even so much as touch their bandages!" she ordered pointing at the two. Without a second thought, they obeyed Aria and began helping the injured demons back to the fire.

Once the demons, including Kouga, had all settled around the fire, Aria sighed and went back to the washing in solitary peace. When they were done and laid out in the sun to dry, she sat down on a log and stared at the glistening water.

Aria had no idea what to do when she finished returning the injured to their den. Her village was destroyed so she definitely couldn't go back there, she wasn't sure the asshole would let her stay any longer than absolutely necessary in the den and if she didn't find anywhere to stay soon... _he_ would find her. She put her head in her hands and took deep breaths, trying to reassure herself that wouldn't happen, _he _definitely would not find her! She gathered the now dry clothes and took them back to camp.

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Aria sighed. They had been travelling for _hours_. She was grateful though for the newcomer's help, now that she didn't have to take care of two injured demons at one time whilst walking. The two had introduced themselves as Ginta and Hakkaku, and upon a light conversation with the demon she was currently assisting, the two were Kouga's closest friends and usually accompanied their alpha outside of the den. Speaking of alphas, she heard Kouga's relieved sigh up ahead.

"We're here!" he called out behind him. Although smiling because the walk was over, Aria couldn't help but panic about what she was going to do once she had finished taking care of the wolf demons.

Within seconds of entering the den, a number of other wolf demons came to help carry the injured into the den but were obviously wary of Aria. Amongst the other wolf-demons, the injured demons, Ginta and Hakkaku were the only ones who didn't treat her like vermin. She sighed. It was to be expected. As the injured wolves were settled against piles of fur, she looked around the den. There were leaves everywhere, which suprised her since the den was behind a waterfall, there was grime on the walls of the cave and everything seemed to be in a sort of disarray. She decided that she would maybe request to fix up the cave's conditions, if Kouga would let her of course.

She noticed soon after that thought, that Kouga had disappeared. Neither Ginta nor Hakkaku seemed to know, so she waited quietly in the den, and out of anyone's way. Once the sun started setting, she went out to catch some fish for dinner, knowing full well that the other demons probably wouldn't share with her. Kouga still had not returned.

When she came back with a couple of fish, she was shocked to find a group of wolf demonesses waiting for her.

"Please, can you teach us how to care for them?" begged one of the demonesses, gesturing to one of the injured demons.

Aria raised a brow, "Shouldn't you know how already?"

The demonesses shook their heads with grim expressions on their faces. One explained, "A little while ago our tribe was nearly wiped out by another demon. The pack members who knew about healing were all killed. Can you please teach us?"

With a quick smile, Aria nodded, and proceeded to demonstrate basic care for wounds. She was glad for the demonesses sudden acceptance of her and willingness to learn from her, but she couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that she didn't belong. She guided the group of women eager to learn for a little while longer before requesting that she help clean up the state of the den.

After all the other demons had fallen asleep and the den was clean, she snuck outside the confines of the den. What was she thinking? Of course she couldn't stay here! The den was fine now, the wolf women had watched her enough to work out how to tend to their wounded men so what point was left in staying? Surely _he_ wouldn't find her so soon? She began walking away from the waterfall, back the way she came. She didn't get far through the woods however when she heard a rustling behind her.

_It can't be him! _she thought, her hopes suddenly crushed as she wildly turned around to face the noise. Another rustle came from her side. Aria began to panic, whispering reassurances to herself under her breath. Soon her hands began to faintly glow. Before long, in her panic, she was hurling bolts of light at anything that made a sound. Suddenly she heard a shout as one of the bolts hits something she couldn't see. Walking cautiously towards the noise, she held her glowing hands in front of her, as if preparing for an attack. Looking down at her unfortunate victim however, she saw the form of Kouga sprawled out on the ground.

"Bitch..." he groaned before sitting up.

Aria gasped, the glow instantly leaving her hands and she knelt down beside the wolf-prince, "I am _so_ sorry! I shouldn't have done that I'm so sorry! How hard did I hit you?"

Kouga raised an eyebrow at her, "What _are_ you?"

She took back a step, "I-I-D-Never mind!" she said quietly, remembering what she was doing before; running away from the den. Realising that this was probably her last chance to get away without having to explain herself she bolted.

'_I can't beleive I actually hurt someone! I have to leave...Kouga's den will end up like my village if I don't-_' she thought frantically before she felt a hand grab her, stopping her plight.

"Look bitch, I don't actually care _what _you are but now that you've attacked me, accident or not, you've got hell to pay! You aren't leaving until I say so!" Kouga shouted.

Aria froze...did he really mean that?

"Thank-you," she whispered. Kouga blinked in suprise, did she really just say thank-you?

"What did you say?" he asked her, wondering if she would say it again but louder. Surely she wasn't grateful for a threat?

"I said, 'Fine ASSHOLE'!" she yelled storming back to the den. Kouga just stood there stunned.

"Crazy bitch..." he muttered. A branch suddenly hit him in the head, followed by the sound of Aria's voice, "I HEARD THAT!"

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	4. Chapter 4: Wanderer, Boar and Children

Aria frowned, wondering how she'd gotten into such a mess. She glanced at the massive furious boar before her, then the little unconscious wolf demon girl and fox demon boy behind her and then the large two-tailed cat demon who used to be _much _smaller only seconds ago.

She remembered following a tiny, cream and black, two-tailed cat through the forest while she was out gathering medicinal herbs for the injured wolf demons. Then she remembered getting quite lost and hearing children screaming only a little ways off. Following the sound, she was horrified to see two small bodies flying across a clearing followed by a unnaturally huge rampaging boar. Upon instinct, she ran out and placed herself between the two unconscious bodies and the angry boar.

Just before the boar charged into her, a large cream and black blur slammed into the boar, sending it flying. Looking properly, she could see that it was the same little - or not so little any longer - cat from earlier. Aria turned to look at the two people she was protecting and saw it to be a small fox demon kid and a wolf demon kid. Her eyes lingered on the little wolf girl, wondering if maybe she belonged to Kouga's pack.

Aria knew it wasn't the best idea, trusting that a giant cat demon wasn't about to eat her after it finished with the boar, but somehow she felt safe in the presence of the feline. Soon enough, the cat demon and the boar engaged in their own personal fight, the cat protecting her while she picked up the two children.

Aris was about to leave the clearing with the children when a loud cry froze the demons where they were, "WIND SCAR!"

Something like light tore through the forest, nearly blinding Aria and obliterated the raging boar. Immediately the cat demon shrunk again and ran in the direction of the light.

"Shippo?"

"SHIPPO?"

"RUNT?"

Aria noticed the cat demon shrink again and almost sprint in the direction the light came from. Maybe the cat demon was going to kill those people as well? If that was case, Aria decided to take the two back to the wolf den before the cat demon decided that she and the children were it's next victims. Quickly, she began making her way back out of the forest careful to make as little noise as possible.

As she returned to the cave, Ginta and Hakkaku noticed her running out of the forest and helped her with the two demon children. Aria had them lay the children down on a bunch of furs and gave the medicinal herbs she had collected to some of the wolf women so they could practise treating the wounded. Once she had quickly instructed the women, she went over to the children hoping to get them both conscious again, also tending to any bruises she saw.

"That one smells like the mongrel!" growled a voice behind her, sending shivers up her spine as she failed to wake the fox demon. Turning around she saw Kouga leaning over her, glaring at the little fox child.

Giving him a scolding glare, she shielded the child from Kouga's gaze with her body, "Kouga, the last thing these children need is the face of a hideous demon glaring at them when they wake up. Go take a bath or something!"

"Where did you find them?" Kouga asked, trying to ignore Aria's taunts.

"In the forest. They'd been attacked by a boar and so I took them back here to recover since I'm already dealing with injured demons," she explained, gently wiping dirt off the wolf-girl's face.

"Boar?"

"Yes, Kouga. Boar. Big pig. Attack kids. I save. Get it?"

"How did _you_ get past a boar? Well, knowing you, you probably talked to it, drove it crazy then it ran off a cliff."

_THUNK!_

"Hey! Don't throw shoes at me bitch!"

"Be quiet you stupid asshole! They're waking up!" Aria whispered harshly, pushing Kouga away.

The little wolf demon girl stirred, her eyes slowly opening. The little girl focused her big green eyes on Aria, then her surroundings...then Kouga. The girl suddenly panicked at the unfamiliar surroundings and began running towards no apparant destination other than out. Before the girl got far, Aria quickly scooped the girl up in her arms and tried to console her, throwing a glare at Kouga.

"See? They're terrified of _your_ ugly mug!" she said harshly. Once the girl had relaxed, she hugged Aria tightly. The little boy soon began to wake also, only he seemed somewhat calmer than the girl who was clinging to Aria.

"Finally you are both awake. Can you please tell me your names?" Aria asked the fox boy, hoping he was more coherent than the girl.

Shippo nodded, "My name's Shippo but I don't know her name, she wouldn't tell me."

Aria nodded, absently patting the girl's back, "Well Shippo. Would you mind telling me how you ended up in the forest?"

Shippo opened his mouth to speak but faltered, "K-Kouga?"

"What?" Aria asked.

Kouga blinked at the fox child. _Have I met this runt before? He does look familiar..._Kouga thought to himself.

"KOUGA!" shouted a loud voice. Aria felt the wolf girl grip her tighter in shock.

"Kouga what's going on?" Aria asked quietly, watching his twisted grin.

"That mongrel's here," he said before racing out of the den.

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	5. Chapter 5: Wanderer and Wolf

_"That mongrel's here," he said before racing out of the den._

"Wait! KOUGA! Who- What mongrel?" Aria called out.

"None of your business bitch!" he shouted back, aggravated by the presence of one half demon. Almost as soon as Kouga had emerged from behind the waterfall that covered the entrance to the den, he found his hanyou rival glaring at him, his companions all standing right beside him.

Kouga would have asked Inuyasha to leave if he hadn't already noticed Kagome beside him. "What's wrong mutt? Come to settle things or have you finally decided to give up Kagome?" he asked, flicking a glance at his 'woman'.

"Where's Shippo?" growled Inuyasha, his hand reaching for the sword at his side.

Kouga raised an eyebrow. _Shippo?_ he thought to himself. _How do they know-? _He rolled his eyes when realisation hit him. Shippo was the little kid who always stuck around Kagome. "Stupid bitch...taking random kids..." he muttered. "Look mutt, I didn't take the kid. The crazy-"

_THUNK!_

"You_ ASSHOLE_!" Kouga heard Aria's voice coming from the mouth of the den. Turning he saw Aria standing a mere couple feet behind him, face almost red with fury and mouth twisted with the loaded words ready to spill out.

Kouga groaned, rubbing his head. _What did she throw this time? A rock... I'm surprised she hasn't thrown that earlier actually..._ Kouga thought grimly.

"What now?" Kouga yelled at Aria.

"Don't you _dare_ use such foul language in front of children! I can't _believe_ you called me a bitch right in front of them! Have you lost common sense or is it just that common sense can't get through that thick skull of yours?! Do you always speak this way in front of the other children?! Kami save you if you do!"

"I'll call you a bitch whenever and wherever I like! It's _my _pack for fuck's sake! I don't need some crazy idiot who doesn't even know when she's stealing some _other person's kid_ telling me how to behave!"

"Kouga..." Aria growled. Suddenly it seemed like her hair was rising. Kouga took a step back. "...you're so fucking stupid!" she screeched. All Kouga saw was a huge rock hurtling towards him. As he lay unconscious on the ground, Aria purposefully trod over him and walked over to the group who was currently staring blankly at Kouga's body.

Sango leaned over to Miroku whispering, "They're worse than Kagome and Inuyasha!" Miroku nodded his silent agreement as he stared at the unconscious demon.

"Sorry. Are you the children's friends?" Aria asked calmly. One of the human girls snapped out of her stupor.

"Um yes. We're Shippo's friends! Might I ask who you are?" she asked.

"I'm Aria. What am I doing with a bunch of wolf demons? Trying to fix a mess the fool behind me has created. Your name?" Aria said.

"I'm Kagome, this is Sango, Miroku, Kirara and this guy here is Inuyasha."

Aria nodded, "Nice to meet you. I'll go get Shippo If you'd like. Do you know about the young demon girl that was with Shippo?" Aria asked.

"What demon girl?"

"Ah, don't worry then!" she reassured before turning around with a slight frown and heading back into the den, hauling Kouga with her. Ginta and Hakkaku once again helped her with the 'wounded' and she got them to lie Kouga down on his bed. She did a quick scan of the den looking for the children before she called out to Shippo, "Shippo, a lady named Kagome has come to get you!"

Shippo's eyes widened and a smile broke out as she ran up to her, "Really?!" Aria smiled before noticing the little wolf girl huddled behind Shippo. Aria reached her arms out towards the little wolf-girl. Immediately the girl ran to Aria.

As the girl practically jumped into the secure arms of the older woman, Aria blinked away her suprise and continued her conversation with Shippo, "Yes, we should return you home now."

"What about _her_?" asked Shippo, pointing to the girl.

"I'm not sure but let's work it out as we go," said Aria, carrying the little wolf girl and leading the kit out of the den. Upon sighting Kagome, Shippo immediately ran up and hugged her. Aria was a little stunned to realise the girl she was now holding had done the same to her not too long ago, except Kagome actually looked like the mothering type.

"Thanks for taking care of him for us!" said Kagome.

Aria smiled. Yep, definitely the mothering type.

"Is that the wolf-girl?" asked Sango, looking at the little girl clinging to Aria.

Aria nodded, "Yes but she's not a part of this tribe so I don't know if she's lost or not."

"Could she stay with us Kagome?" Shippo asked.

Kagome bit her lip, "I don't know. What does she want to do?"

Aria turned to the girl and asked, "Do you want to stay with Shippo?"

The girl shook her head furiously. Aria nodded with a small sigh, "She'll stay with me. I'll deal with the idiot later," she told them, though had no idea what to do with the child herself. She probably couldn't just keep the child with them, she was already a temporary guest in the tribe and if the girl was lost, she didn't want her pack to think she had kidnapped the child either.

Soon after Kagome and the others had left, Aria took the little girl back in the den. The girl never left her side. After Aria had finished her usual tending to the injured demons, she then went to go awaken Kouga. Whilst she wiped his forehead with a cool wet cloth, she spoke to the little girl, "Can you tell me your name?"

The girl shook her head. Aria sighed, "Oh well... I have to call you_ something_...Do you want me to give you a name?"

The girl smiled and nodded. Aria watched the girl with fascination, no-one had ever taken a liking to her so quickly...

"Okay but I'll have to think about it! While I do that, how about you go help my friends Ginta and Hakkaku take care of those sick men, can you do that for me?" Aria asked her.

The girl skipped off rather compliantly and enthusiastically pulling Ginta and Hakkaku along with her. Aria smiled to herself thinking up names whilst still trying to get Kouga conscious again. She almost giggled when she realised that she was trying to get the children conscious like this before. She seemed to be taking care of lots of kids today.

"Why are you grinning like an idiot?" Kouga groaned.

Aria's 'grin' instantly faded. She gripped the wet cloth tighter but remembered that the girl was probably watching her every few seconds. Aria relaxed again, keeping her temper under control.

"Actually I was trying to think up a name for the wolf-girl," Aria told Kouga, helping him sit upright.

Kouga blinked in surprise. She had given him a straight answer without any anger.

"The wolf-girl? She's still here?"

"Yes, she didn't want to go with the others so she's staying with me until we can find anything about where she came from. Any problems?" Aria asked.

"No. Kagome left already?" Kouga asked, keeping wary so that he didn't set her off again.

"Yes...What do you think of Sawa?" she asked.

"Who's Sawa?"

Aria sighed, "I meant a name for the girl. It means 'quiet'."

"It doesn't really suit her."

"Mieko?"

"No."

"Shizu?"

"No."

"Then what do you think I should call her?"

Kouga was silent for a little while, watching the little wolf girl helping his two friends, "Chise."

"Chise huh?"

Kouga turned to Aria, "It means 'Little Star'."

Aria looked up at Kouga, amazed that his eyes could be so serious yet not solemn...just resolute. Kouga waited for her answer. Wondering if he'd actually done something right by her for once.

"Chise..." Aria whispered, watching the little girl. Now that she thought about it, she did somehow see the girl as her 'little star'.

A smile broke out on Aria's face. Kouga stared at her, he had never seen her smile that way. It was gentle and kind, the kind Kouga saw on the faces of mothers looking at their kids.

"...Chise suits her."

Kouga smiled, "Thanks."

Aria stood up, "Well it's a hell of a lot better than Kouga for a name!" she laughed, running away from the angry demon.

Kouga frowned, _Oh well...I guess this might be as friendly as we'll ever get...stupid bitch... _he thought.

Kouga smiled at Aria and the wolf girl who was now Chise.

* * *

**A/N: YAY! Starting the fluffiness :P**

With thanks to:

**ultima-owner**

**BionicLemon**

**MorningStor101**

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	6. Chapter 6: Wanderer the Demon

Kouga smiled and took a deep breath. It was a beautiful day. Quiet, calm and perfectly sunny. Not a single problem in sight.

This was mostly brought on by the temporary absence of one Aria. She had gone off to find the herbs she didn't get the other day with Chise. Kouga could also smell the light fragrance of Kagome nearby, so all was well. With nothing better to do, Kouga decided to take a swim in the river a little way's off from the den.

Elsewhere, Aria happily followed Chise through the forest. Chise still wasn't saying a word but had her own way of talking. To Aria, Chise's emerald green eyes were very expressive and pretty much spoke for her in the absence of her voice. Every couple of moments Chise would point to a flower or plant and look at Aria, asking what it was without actually saying it.

It was exhausting but Aria loved every minute of it. Despite only being with the girl for only a few days, Aria already cared for and protected Chise like any mother would. And Chise, being a wolf demon as well as being a child, was bursting with energy and caused Aria to practically run after her to keep up.

"Chise! Slow down!" Aria called after the girl, laughing. She suddenly realised that Chise was now completely out of her sight.

"Where are you Chise?" she called out with slight panic at having lost her visual on the girl.

Suddenly the small black haired girl reappeared, barreling into the back of her legs then taking Aria's hand, leading her throughthe forest. When Chise stopped, they were standing in front of a glistening river surrounded by lilies.

"Chise this is beautiful! How did you find it?"

Chise, looking very pleased with herself, tapped her nose. Aria chuckled and then dipped her hand in the cool water.

"Ah. Not too cold. Do you want to take a quick swim before we head back?" Aria asked Chise, who nodded her enthusiastic approval.

Before long, they were both in the water, clothes hanging on a tree since neither had a spare change of clothes and they didn't want to wait for their clothes to dry as well. They spent a while splashing water at each other before Chise suddenly froze. Aria, noticing that Chise was no longer playing with her, waded over to the young girl.

"Sweetie are you okay? What's wrong?"

Chise pointed at something behind Aria. Turning around, Aria was faced with one terrified Kouga.

"Y-You... Look away you asshole!" Aria screamed, shielding Chise from his view with her own body.

Flustered Kouga turned around, averting his eyes from the two. Furious, Aria quickly threw Chise's kimono over the girl and loosely tied her yukata around herself. After she quickly instructed the girl to get back to the den, Aria ripped a small branch off of a nearby tree and hurled it across the river at Kouga's head.

"How dare you! I can't believe you had the nerve to spy on me and a _child_!" she screeched, grabbed another branch and repeatedly bashing Kouga over the head with it.

"Hey stop it you stupid bitch! I wasn't spying! I was going to swim as well but you were already here!"

Aria blushed even further at the realisation she may have overreacted and stepped back a little, shocked and angry. With the opportunity of having Aria caught off guard, Kouga pinned Aria to the ground, forcing her to drop the branch. She was suddenly very aware of how close his face was to hers and how very inappropriate it must look to have a demon pinning you to the ground, especially when you were hardly dressed yourself.

"Look bitch! It seems I can't get through to you if you're whacking my head with a stick. I didn't mean to see you bathing it was an _accident_! Now if I let you go, will you promise not to keep hitting me?" Kouga growled.

Still very red in the face and most uncomfortable with her current position, Aria nodded, "Alright alright I forgive you and I'm sorry!"

Kouga let her go and Aria went to go find Chise, hoping the poor girl wasn't scarred for life. Chise, much to Aria's relief, was fine and had forgotten about the whole thing. Aria however, who was still in much trauma, went to go sit outside for a bit of fresh air. That unfortunate event kept replaying in her head, each time making her face a different tone of red. Though she didn't get to dwell on her mortification for long as a flash of bright blue in the forest snapped her out of her thoughts. Seeing this made her stiffen, _'It can't be...'_

Suddenly the bright blue emerged out of the forest, revealing a person clothed in dark blue and with vibrant sky blue hair. The man looked up to where Aria was sitting and smirked. She flinched at the sight of him and jerked back as if she were trying to dodge his gaze.

_'It is! Why now?'_ she thought frantically. Reluctantly and with dread filling her entire being, she raced down the cliff and walked up to where the man in blue waited.

"Leave Takeo!" Aria told him with the strongest voice she could muster, keeping her safe distance from him but keeping herself in between him and the direction of the den. The man named Takeo held her silver eyes with his own dark eyes.

"Why should I?" he asked. Suddenly Takeo was behind her, grasping the hair behind her head and holding a dagger at her throat. "After all, it's my destiny to be the one who kills you."

Aria suddenly felt something small and warm wrap around her leg. Looking down as far as she could without cutting herself on the knife at her throat, she saw Chise looking up at her with huge worried green eyes. _'Oh God! Chise!'_

Aria then turned her head as far as she could and fixed her eyes on Takeo's cold ones, "It may be my fate to die by your hand but I will not let you kill me in front of a child!"

Takeo smirked, "Don't worry Aria, I'll kill her straight after I kill you if you'd like."

In a blind flash of anger, Aria twisted around and punched Takeo across the face, a bright light flashed as she did so. Takeo stepped away a few steps, wiping the blood from his mouth, smirking at the light cut he'd made under her jaw.

"I seem to have hit a sensitive spot have I? Well, well, well... I'd never have thought a demon such as yourself could be so soft!" Takeo grinned, sending chills up Aria's spine. She clutched Chise close to her, preparing herself to run if necessary.

"Get out of here," called a voice. Kouga seemingly appeared out of nowhere and stood in front of Aria.

"Another friend of yours Aria?" Takeo laughed.

"Leave before I kill you," Kouga growled. Aria blinked. It wasn't possible that Kouga was about to defend her?

Takeo chuckled and faced Aria, "Alright I'll leave. I hope we can meet each other again soon, _sister_."

With that, Takeo seemed to melt back into the shadows of the forest leaving a shell shocked Aria frozen in place. _'It's over. I've ruined it all! He'll kill Chise...Kouga...and everyone else! I've got to run! Run far away before anyone else can stop me. I've got to-'_

"Demon huh?" Kouga asked her, stopping her train of thought.

"W-What?"

"He called you a demon. It explains a bit but why don't you have a demonic aura or smell?" Kouga asked crossing his arms in front of him.

Aria sank to the ground. Chise wrapped her arms around Aria's neck and hugged tight. Aria gave a half smile, selfishly pleased that the girl cared so much for her.

"I-I'm a demon but that is all I can say. I'm not supposed to say more than that..." Aria explained. Kouga searched her eyes for any hints of a lie.

"Fine. But don't you dare think of running away bitch! You still owe me for nearly killing me and me saving your sorry ass just now! Come on let's go back before I have to rescue you _again_!" Kouga smirked and began heading back to the den.

_THUNK!_

"Language you fool! Think before you speak!" Aria scolded, walking past him, making sure he didn't see her smiling.

* * *

**A/N: YAY! Aria is a demon! Bwa ha ha ha! :P**

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**BionicLemon**

**Evil Hell Master**

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	7. Chapter 7: Wanderer Sets Off

Aria watched in fascination as she watched the Wolf-prince and his wolves communicate. It was strange and foreign. She looked almost sadly at Chise who was currently playing with Ginta and Hakakku. She knew she'd never be able to teach her such important things that a wolf demon needed like how to track, talk to wolves, hunt and all those other demony skills. For this reason, Aria was glad that she was allowed sanctuary within the wolf-demon Den where other demons could teach Chise the basics.

"We've found another trace of Naraku's whereabouts. He's fifty miles north of here," called a scout, racing towards them. Aria saw Kouga's eyes light up.

"We'll leave here tomorrow, Ginta, Hakakku...get ready to leave by dawn," Kouga said almost gleefully. Aria blinked. Without those three around, she was going to be very much alone in the Wolf Den and she wasn't sure she'd be left alive let alone welcome if Kouga wasn't around. She slept on a bunch of left-over furs for heaven's sake! What about Takeo? What if he came?

Aria unconsciously walked over to Chise and held her tight. Aria had decided. The Wolf-Women had already accepted Chise as a part of their pack so it would be fine to leave her. There were enough medicinal herbs for the women to use and she'd already taught the women healing techniques. It would be okay to leave now, while she had few emotional ties apart from Chise. It felt like a knife twisting her heart whenever she even thought about leaving the wolf-girl. Now that she had decided to leave-

"Oi! Woman!" Kouga yelled at her, snapping her thoughts. "What the hell're you doing? You're practically choking the poor girl!"

Aria let go of Chise who was looking at her strangely. Aria glared at Kouga, "Well _sorry_, I was trying to have a nice last moment here but now you've gone and ruined it!" Aria shouted before realising what she'd just said.

'_Crap! I told him I was having a '_last_' moment with Chise,_ she thought frantically. Kouga's eyes flashed angrily before he grabbed her arm roughly and led her into the deeper parts of the Wolf Den, away from Chise.

"What Kouga?" Aria yelled when they were away from the other demons. "It's not like I belong here anyway Kouga!"

Kouga rolled his eyes, "Stupid bitch! How the fuck can you still not understand? I've told you this enough times for you to know this already. You can stay here regardless of whatever hell will break loose."

"Kouga..." Aria said quietly. She could feel her legs shaking and her hopes rising but she knew she couldn't allow herself to stay. "Don't be stupid...How could you let a monster like me be a reason for your tribe to be wiped out? If I stay, I might lose control of my power or Takeo will kill you all...If I leave, only I have to die that's all..."

Kouga stared at the girl before him. All of a sudden her usually strong, happy posture was slumped as if it was difficult to even stand. Somewhere deep in the pit of his stomach, Kouga felt some desire to protect he girl, which confused him. Kagome was the only woman he'd protect. Shrugging off the thoughts, he grabbed a hold of her shoulders and shook her. He was shocked by the cold emptiness of Aria's gaze but ignored that.

"What the fuck are you rambling about bitch? Who the hell says you can die?"

She sniffed, "A-a prophesy..."

Kouga rolled his eyes, "I can't beleive you of all people believe in a silly prophesy. Never mind you're coming with us wench. I know about the risks of you staying inside the Den so you're coming with us. Chise can come too if you want."

Her eyes suddenly lit up like two silver suns. Inwardly, Kouga was beaming, proud that he had managed to cheer her up.

"What about the men that still need healing?" she said, the light dimming somewhat.

"I'm sure the women can handle it wench, now go get ready for tomorrow!" he said pushing her back the way they'd come.

Aria stumbled a little before turning around to look back at Kouga, both confused and happy. She gave him a smile before going back the way she came, leaving a stunned Kouga behind her. She knew she was over-indulging in the safety of the wolf den but to be able to stay with Chise and Kouga just that little bit longer made her spirits fly.

Kouga stood there frozen. Aria had never smiled at him, not genuinely at least. What made him all the more stunned was the fact that her smile sent bolts of electricity flying through him.

Shaking hs head he went to go make sure the den would be okay without him for a few days.

-x|o|x-x|o|x-x|o|x-x|o|x-x|o|x-x|o|x-

Aria adjusted the fur dress one of the wolf-women had loaned her for her journey. This way the dress would mask her human scent with a wolf-demon's. She plaited her brown hair and made sure Chise was all ready to go. When the two were done, Aria picked up the girl and walked out to the sunlight. Things were already looking better for Aria and she smiled, following Kouga away from the den.

* * *

Cold red eyes, watched the group leaving the cave hidden by a waterfall through the mirror's reflection. Four other pairs of eyes watched the scene as well.

Dead clay eyes watched the mirror with disdain, another set of crimson eyes and black eyes watched their master for instructions and icy blue eyes stared at the young woman in the reflection.

"It's nearly time to meet this new little demon don't you think?" Naraku said to the four assembled in the dark room. They all nodded.

Naraku grinned at the brown haired demon-woman in the mirror. "Soon..."

The man with the icy blue eyes grinned, '_The game is set, now for Aria to understand the full length of my power,_' he thought, staring at the woman in the mirror

* * *

**A/N: YAY! Sorry it's been forever since I updated but there's PROGRESS! AND this is the first chapter I think that Aria hasn't thrown something at Kouga! So they're getting better haha! :P**

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**Everyone who reviewed! (I lost all my e-mails so I don't know who reviewed the last chapter but you all get a chocolate cake! :**

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	8. Chapter 8: Wanderer Starts

_Demon? Monster was more like it._ Aria thought to herself as she stared at her hazy reflection in the hot springs. _Oh well, too late to turn back now._ She sighed as she relaxed in the hotsprings, a week of travelling mostly uphill took a lot out of her. Especially Chise. Poor girl had to be carried half the way.

Aria watched the swirling steam rise into the air. At least for now, she had no worries... until a certain wolf-prince stupidly walked in on her.

"Oi! Bitch we're leaving!" Kouga yelled looking up in the air. He'd already predicted that with _his_ luck around the silver eyed girl, she'd probably still be very much naked when he came to get her. So he'd taken the precaution to eyes his eyes to the skies.

Aria noticed this and smiled before quickly getting out and pulling the fur dress on.

"Alright alright! I'm out! Did Chise get to sleep?" she asked. Kouga nodded then turned back the way he'd come.

Aria seemed different to him. She hardly yelled at him and hadn't thrown a single thing all week. It was annoying him and he'd tried to get her back to normal over the past week. He'd tried, not 'watching his language' in front of Chise, purposely walking in on her at awkward times, getting unreasonably angry at her for no reason... she overlooked _everything_.

Aria shook her long hair to get excess water out before twisting it into a knot at the base of her neck.

She then hurried after Kouga, ready for the next part of the journey. Kouga had been acting strange over the past week, he seemed much more irritable whenever she was around. Aria felt that she was slowing them down or being a complete nuisance. She had no right to get angry since Kouga had welcomed her into the Wolf Den so kindly. If she was being a nuisance, then fine, let the cussing come. Besides, whenever Kouga _was _using 'bad' language, she simply covered Chise's pointed ears until Kouga had finished his ranting.

It was simply her way of saying thanks.

Though recently it had been somewhat harder to brush off Kouga as he'd become increasingly irritating, to the point where Aria felt like he was _purposely _trying to annoy the hell out of her.

As Aria entered the campsite they were currently leaving, she gently wrapped Chise up in a small wolf pelt and picked her up, cradling the girl close. Soon they set off again.

Aria noticed Kouga had noticably slowed down so that it wasn't too bumpy for Chise. Smiling to herself, she thought that she was probably the most undeserving creature to walk on the Earth, yet somehow, she'd found people who made sure she was comfortable and ones that she loved in return.

"What the hell are you grinning to yourself about woman?" Kouga yelled behind him.

Aria blinked and discreetly covered Chise's ears with the wolf pelt, so that Kouga's yelling wouldn't wake her up.

"Nothing really. It's nothing you need to worry about," she said smiling.

Kouga sighed softly. Still. No threats to murder him if he woke Chise up. Nothing thrown at him. To be honest, this nice Aria was beginning to scare him. Was she bottling up all the emotion for later or was she using this as a new cruel and unusual torture for him. If it was the latter, it was working. Kouga, much to his surprise, was beginning to miss the emotion filled, somewhat violent girl that tagged along.

Despite all that though, he was glad for company _other_ than Ginta and Hakkaku. Not that they weren't good companions, but after months of being with the same people, the conversations started to feel like they were repeating over and over again. And something about Aria's scent calmed him down... you know... when she wasn't throwing stuff at him.

Much later, after a day of nothing but travel, the small pack of wolf-demons and one human/demon settled in a small clearing in a forest.

Aria somehow managed to get Chise back to sleep after her earlier snooze and she began setting up her own bedding for the night. She began collecting soft leaves to put under her wolf fur when she noticed Kouga sitting on a rock, a fair bit away from the camp. Wondering if there was something wrong, Aria made her way to the Wolf-prince.

"Kouga?" she asked quietly, unbraiding her hair for the night.

Kouga, startled by her appearance, stared at her with wide blue orbs. Aria smiled, she thought it looked funny the way he was startled by her.

"What?" he asked gruffly, annoyed she was still all smiley.

"Are you okay?" she asked, noticing his irritation.

Kouga grunted. "Hmph. Am I okay? Are _you _okay?"

"What do you mean?" she asked, sitting down next to him on the rock, continuing to unbraid her long hair.

Kouga rolled his eyes, "You know! You've been acting weirdly recently. You don't yell at me or throw stuff. It's beginning to bother me."

Aria's mouth made an 'o' shape. So he _had_ been annoying her on purpose. A light blush crept onto her cheeks when she began explaining to Kouga, "I-I thought being angry all the time was annoying, so I wanted to make things as easy as possible for you. Besides, I didn't want to be a bother when you had only just let me into your den. A-Am I wrong?"

Kouga stared at her. There was no evil intention behind the lack of anger? His expression softened as he smiled. He couldn't help but think that it was interesting to see Aria being kind and embarrassed in front of him. When Aria saw him staring at her, he turned his gaze onto the moon.

"It's nice but I prefer the normal you," he murmured quietly. Aria's eyes grew wide. Suddenly her heart was beating a little faster as she watched the moonlight on his face... and she had no idea why.

Confused and annoyed by the unfamiliar emotions, she punched Kouga in the side, forcing him off the rock.

"What the hell bitch?" Kouga shouted, wincing in pain.

"Don't say weird things ASSHOLE! Geez! As if being a monster wasn't enough, now I have a creepy wolf-prince saying perverted things!" she shouted, storming back to her make-shift bed. Lying down on the soft furs next to Chise, Aria mentally slapped herself, angry at herself for getting mad at Kouga for no reason.

As much as Kouga preferred the old Aria, the old Aria hurt. Besides, how was what he said perverted in any way?

As he came to sit closer to the camp, Kouga stared dumbstuck at the sleeping girl. He could've sworn her face was bright red when she was yelling at him. He shook his head. No. She was probably just mad with him. He sighed then smiled. At least she was back to normal.

* * *

**A/N: YAY! Woo! Uploaded in not too much time! XD**

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You guys made a huge part in me actually gettin through this chapter! Nearly forgot about it again ^-^"

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	9. Chapter 9: Wanderer Falling Apart

Flowers. The scent was everywhere... and it's wasn't hard to tell where the scent was coming from. Quite frankly, Kouga was trying to stifle a roaring laughter while watching the scene before him.

Still asleep from last night, Aria was lying down peacefully on her bed of furs. Next to her was Chise, wide awake and positively beaming. Chise was happily performing a task set to her by none other than the close-to-pissing-himself Wolf-prince. Around her was a multitude of flowers, she'd picked that morning, and now they were being woven into Aria's hair.

Kouga took deep breaths as he looked away from Aria's flower filled hair, trying to control his laughter.

Ginta and Hakkaku appeared with food for everyone and then froze when they saw what Chise was doing.

Chise, realising her friends had come back, she motioned for them to come and help her in her task of making Aria's hair a small but overflowing flowerbed. They forced a smile but declined, fearing for their lives if Aria discovered they'd helped in the act. They saw Kouga leaning against a tree, trying to smother his laughter. They sighed. Sometimes they wondered if Kouga ever really thought about his actions.

Aria's eyes opened and she sighed. She'd been a bother again. Oversleeping at a time like this, Aria felt ashamed that she was stopping the small pack from going anywhere.

She heard choking behind her. It sounded very much like Kouga. Wondering what was wrong, she quickly rolled over to her side and propped herself up on her arms, in order to see if Kouga was in trouble. Kouga was staring at her, red in the face and appeared troubless... in fact, he looked like he was about to laugh.

Just as Aria was about to ask what was apparantly so hilarious, a couple of flowers fell from the top of her head. Staring at the flowers that had seemingly appeared from her head, her eyes narrowed.

Tenatively, she slowly brought her hands to the top of her head. Her eyes widened as she realised that she couldn't feel her hair... instead there was a flowery, grassy mess tangled in her hair. Kouga couldn't hold it in any longer. Whilst he was busting up laughing, Aria's eyes seemed to have burning fire in them.

Chise appeared in front of Aria's face, causing her to quickly lose the murderous flame in her eyes, "Like the flowers mama?"

Aria stared wide-eyed at the girl and Kouga immediately stopped laughing, both thinking the same thing. _Did she just say her first words?_

The two exchanged glances before Chise spoke again, " I picked really pretty ones!"

To Aria, the girl's voice was clear and like the chime of bells, quiet but unexplainably beautiful. All thoughts of murdering Kouga left her mind as she jumped to her feet, picking up Chise with her.

"They're absolutely perfect! All of my favourite colours! Which ones are your favourites?" Aria asked, hoping to hear her voice again.

Chise smiled and removed a small blue flower that was placed behind Aria's ear, "This!" she cried happily. "Which one is mama's favourite?"

Aria looked into Chise's shining green eyes, "I wouldn't know! They're all in my hair so I can't see them!"

Chise gave a disappointed, "Oh."

"But I'll pick my favourite if you help me take them out of my hair so I can see them!" Aria compromised happily.

Aria got Chise talking for hours about flowers as they took the flowers out of her hair one by one. Aria was blissfully happy talking with the girl. It seemed the girl could've talked if she'd wanted to long ago, but didn't until now. Chise talked about many things and Aria was always fascinated by her voice and her words, quietly proud that 'her' girl was so intelligent and bubbly.

Kouga watched the two, secretly listening into their conversation. It perplexed him that as soon as Chise had appeared earlier, Aria no longer looked mad. Not only that, but the adopted wolf-girl had spoken for the first time since being found by Aria. He watched as Chise pulled the final few flowers out of Aria's hair, talking about how beautiful they were and whether they were Aria's favourites or not.

He sighed, why hadn't Aria picked a favourite yet? They'd been looking at flowers for hours now and she'd already seen every flower there was in her hair. He looked at Aria, her silver eyes seemed to light up more with each word Chise spoke to her. Then almost as soon as Chise stopped talking, Aria asked her another question. Then it hit him. She was trying to get Chise to say as much as possible.

He gave the strange two a half-smile before going to see if Ginta and Hakkaku needed help.

~(o)~*~(o)~*~(o)~*~(o)~*~(o)~*~(o)~*~(o)~*~(o)~

Aria smiled while walking hand in hand with Chise. They both were wearing flower-crowns they'd made out of their favourite flowers before setting off again.

She'd stopped asking Chise continuous questions as it appeared that the wolf-girl wasn't about to stop talking again anytime soon. Aria wondered if this was how mothers felt whenever they heard their child's voice for the first time.

Later when they'd finished their travelling for the day, Ginta, Hakkaku and Chise fell asleep as soon as they hit the sleeping mats. Kouga stayed awake on watch as usual. Annoyed that Kouga may not be getting any sleep, Aria sat next to him.

"Whadd'ya want woman?" he asked tiredly. Aria pulled out a plant she'd picked earlier with Chise.

"Here. Eat this," she said forcefully. Kouga eyed the plant suspiciously.

"This isn't payback for the flower thing is it?" he asked warily.

She rolled her eyes, "No idiot. It's to help you stay awake. I figured you're too stubborn to be convinced to get some sleep so I decided I'd help you instead. Eat it."

Kouga did as he was told and continued listening for any sounds or signs of danger, unsure of what brought on Aria's sincerity.

He glanced at the girl beside him. Sure her mood swings surprised him but then again, he didn't really know much about her. Yet for some strange reason, he was letting her stay in his den, protecting her and even let her join him on his 'quest' to kill Naraku. She'd been called a demon although had no demonic aura or appearance and apparantly was 'destined' to die by that other man's hand. For reasons unknown, that thought made him feel angry and horrible on the inside. For other reasons unknown to him, Aria kept saying that bad things would happen because of her, yet so far no proof had been shown from that. He turned to the 'demon' beside him.

"Why are you going to die?" he asked bluntly. Aria's face turned whiter than snow as she stared at Kouga, frozen in fear.

"W-What did you say?" she asked nervously, praying she'd heard him wrong.

"Why? Why are you going to die?" he repeated. He watched as her eyes grew somewhat dull and distant as she sighed.

It was going to happen anyway... she thought despairingly. She decided to start from the beginning as her voice grew quiet and distant,

"Every hundred years, two human youkai are born. One whose power is made of light, and the other whose power is made of darkness. The Light and Dark youkai are the embodiment of good and evil. It is destiny that one must kill the other. Should light prevail, good fortune shall rule over the land for the next hundred years. However should dark defeat the light, misfortune and misery shall spread, destroying the land until a hundred years have passed, and the next light youkai is born. The two's power are linked. If one refuses to use their power, the other's power grows. Only if both use their power, will they be equal. Should the two remain alive, the world will enter catastrophe."

Kouga blinked. It sounded as though Aria was in a trance, distant and somehow rehearsed. She looked shameful and exhausted.

"So you're one of the human youkai?" Kouga asked. She nodded. When she didn't say anything else, Kouga continued, "So why don't you just kill that bastard and be done with it? There! Prophecy solved!"

Aria burst into tears, stifling her sobs so that she wouldn't wake the others, "I d-don't want to! I-I'm not Light! I-I'm D-Dark! If I kill Takeo, I'll destroy the world! I-I'll kill your pack, C-Chise a-and you!" Aria was now clutching her sides as if she as about to fall to pieces. "B-But even if I-I keep running to stay alive, s-something bad will happen!"

Her sobs were suddenly cut off as she felt herself being pulled towards the Wolf-Prince. She felt two arms wrap around her as Kouga pulled her into a hug.

Kouga kept his arms wrapped around her, not wanting to see her cry anymore. When he'd seen her cry, something in him snapped and he no longer had any control of his body. He kept her in his arms, determined to not let the girl fall apart before him. The head-strong and happy woman should not be falling apart like this.

Aria's sobs abruptly stopped as she realised what was happening. Kouga was embracing her... _her_! And he just found out she was the harbringer of evil. Was he that dense? She felt his arms hold her tighter. Aria felt her cheeks go red. As much as she hated herself for it, she wanted to stay there, in the safety of Kouga's arms. She wanted to make time stop, to never worry about death or have any worries because of her fate.

"What will happen if you do not fight Aria?" Kouga asked quietly.

Her reply was barely a whisper, "N-No one knows. I-It's never happened."

Kouga smirked even though she couldn't see, "Then how do you know it's bad?"

Aria froze. She really didn't know.

He continued, "So as far as I can tell, use your powers for whatever fancies you. I don't see anything wrong with it. If it doesn't work out then you can stop using your powers. It's okay."

She blinked back more tears and hugged Kouga back, silently thanking him. They stayed that way until Kouga realised the girl had fallen asleep. Smiling at the small woman in his arms, he picked her up and set her down on the furs next to Chise before returning back to his post as watch guard.

He gave one last glance at the girl before completely taking charge of his duty, trying to make sense of why his heart was beating faster at the sight of Aria's smiling sleeping face.

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A/N: Fluff! I love it! :3

With thanks to:

**XvampireXTiaXmewXmewX**

**ultima-owner**

**Vanessa123**

You guys made a huge part in me actually gettin through this chapter! Nearly forgot about it again ^-^"

**Also thanks to everyone who added this their favourites/alerts! :D**

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	10. Chapter 10: Wanderer Falls

Kouga was running ahead. He'd caught the scent of Naraku and immediately followed it, forgetting about a certain four demons behind him.

Aria stared at the whirlwind that was Kouga. They'd been walking for hours under the beating sun since dawn, and now Kouga had suddenly broken into a break-neck pace without any warning. Having no strength left in her to chase after him because of walking all day, she rolled her eyes at him before picking up Chise and walking up to Ginta and Hakkaku.

"Where's the blockhead going?" she asked tiredly.

"He probably caught Naraku's or Kagome's scent," they said casually.

"What?" Aria asked confusedly. Ginta blinked at Aria before realising she didn't really know about Naraku or Kagome.

They spent a good half hour explaining to Aria about Naraku and how he'd wiped out nearly all of their tribe. And of Kagome, the girl she'd met earlier, and how she was going to be Kouga's bride.

"Um. But if Kouga only wants to marry Kagome because she can sense these 'jewel shards'... what happens once the jewel is whole? Will they stay together?" she asked.

Ginta and Hakkaku exchanged glances, they hadn't thought about that before. Aria continued, "And why would Kagome give the jewel to a _demon _if she's trying to purify it?"

The two wolf demons before her pondered this question while she stood and went to get Chise who'd run off while the adults were talking. Chise, who now only talked to the bare minimum, ran to Aria with a big grin.

"Go where now?" she asked quietly, tugging on the hem of Aria's dress.

Aria gave the girl a half-smile, "You're going to stay here with Hakkaku and Ginta. I need you to be a good girl for them while I go out okay?"

Ginta and Hakkaku heard this and gave the young woman a questioning gaze. As Aria ushered Chise towards them, she whispered in their ears, "If Kouga really has gone to find this Naraku, he clearly can not do this alone and neither will I allow himself to get killed. I'm going after Kouga and you're staying here to take care of Chise until we get back!"

She hissed before sprinting nearly as fast as a demon in the direction Kouga took, leaving Ginta and Hakkaku with the realisation that their female companion was not quite human...

* * *

Kouga was trapped. The forest was thick and the Naraku puppet before him was blocking the only escape. He growled at the doll.

"Why don't you show yourself bastard!" he yelled. Low laughter was his only reply as tentacles shot out towards him.

Dodging them easily, he ran forward to kick the doll. The Naraku puppet however, dodged this too and wrapped a tentacle around the Wolf-prince's arms and waist. Kouga winced as the tentacle tightened it's grip.

The puppet laughed, "Such a pitifully weak demon-"

A bright pale pink flash, sliced through the tentacle holding Kouga. The puppet growled and turned to where the light had come from. Standing there, was Kagome, Inuyasha and the others.

"You!" it growled before sending more tentacles towards the newcomers. Angry, Kouga jumped on the tentacles before they got near Kagome.

"No-one goes near my woman!" he growled, wrestling the puppet. Kagome and the others began hacking away at the tentacles but more and more kept growing from the lost ones. Before long, the group were all entangled in the puppet's tentacles. After struggling with the puppet for a few moments, Inuyasha managed to release his arms, and swung the Tetsaiga, cutting the tentacle off him. Quickly using his brief freedom, he cut the others (including Kouga) loose as well. As they were about to launch a second attack upon the puppet, they heard a loud voice shouting behind them, "MOVE!"

Not one of them stopping to see who was ordering them to move, they all ducked down as a bright white light slammed into the puppet's chest. Before anyone could see what was going on, the puppet was sliced in two and disintegrating away.

As the light faded, they could see a figure standing where the puppet had been. Kouga's eyes widened as he recognised the short, slim figure. The figure turned and smiled at him. Standing there in front of Kouga was Aria. She looked tired and her eyes seemed as if they were going to close any second.

"Good... I see I made it in time..." she said in barely a whisper. Aria gave a strangled gasp as she collapsed to the ground. Kouga ran and caught her before she hit the ground. Kouga felt a bolt of panic go through him as he saw how pale she was as she lay unconscious in his arms.

"H-Hey! Wake up!" he shouted giving her body a light shake. When there was no response, he turned to Kagome, "She's not waking up!"

Kagome quickly got Sango and Inuyasha to get the girl to lie down while she retreived the medicines she needed in her bag.

Kouga stared at Aria, unsure of what had just happened. Horror filled him as he wondered if she was going to even live. No. She wouldn't die from that, surely. For now, he could only wait as Kagome began healing her.

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A/N: I'm sorry! I'VE LEFT YOU ON A CLIFFY! But on the bright side, I tend to write faster when left on a cliffy cause I wanna know what happens too! (Ehehe... no I don't know what's going to happen except in the last few chappies ^-^")

***IMPORTANT***

I need to know if you guys really want me to continue this story! There's not too many reviews and I'mma beginning to wonder...

However to the loverly people who have supported me, YOU GUYS ARE BRILLIANT!

With thanks to:

**Loud Mouth Girl**

**ultima-owner**

**Vanessa123**

**Also thanks to everyone who added this their favourites/alerts! :D**

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**Please? The button's just there!  
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	11. 11: When Reasoning Goes Wrong

Two days, and still nothing had changed. Kouga sat next to the unconscious girl the whole time and still nothing had changed. Aria seemed almost as if she were asleep, were it not for the fever and occasional shaking that occurred. Ginta, Hakkaku and Chise had all arrived but the two wolf demons had decided that it was best that Chise didn't know what was wrong with her adoptive mother.

He couldn't make sense of what was going on. Sure he'd told her it was okay if she used whatever power she held but he didn't think she'd nearly die from it.

Was it his fault that she was lying there, sick and unresponsive?

Kagome had said that she was seriously ill. Kaede had told them that she may not last the night. Inuyasha wouldn't stop bugging him and taunting him about it.

He quietly took hold of her hand, feeling how hot her skin was. It was killing him inside, not knowing if that second was going to be her last.

Kouga wondered why he felt so terrible, seeing Aria lying there almost dead. Hours and even more hours passed when it hit him. For some reason, he no longer felt like Kagome should be his woman anymore. That feeling just wasn't there anymore. Was it possible that he wanted the crazy, stubborn, violent, odd, intelligent, brave, loving and beautiful woman lying before him, to be there instead of Kagome?

He wasn't even sure himself, but he knew that he felt something for the girl. Brushing a few strands of long brown hair out of her face, she suddenly groaned.

Hoping it wasn't just his imagination, he gently tapped her cheek, waiting for some sort of sign she'd wake up.

Inuyasha who'd been sitting opposite him, annoying him for the past few days, yelled at him, "Doing that isn't going to wake her up you mangy wolf!"

Kouga growled, "Yeah well if it wasn't for her, we'd all be still fighting that damned puppet you filthy mongrel!"

Kagome came in and hit them both over the head, "Would you both please stop fighting? Honestly! You've been going at it for two whole days now! Enough is enough!"

Kouga sulked about not being allowed to fight with the mutt but his attention soon turned to Aria, as he saw that her silvery eyes were open.

* * *

Aria groaned. Her head was pounding and her legs and arms burned. Her whole body felt a strange sensation of floating. She was aware of someone repeatedly patting the side of her face. Soon the muffled voices began to make sense.

"Doing that isn't going to wake her up you mangy wolf!" said a rough voice.

"Yeah well if it wasn't for her, we'd all be still fighting that damned puppet you filthy mongrel!" she heard an all too familiar voice retort.

"Would you both please stop fighting? Honestly! You've been going at it for two whole days now! Enough is enough!" shouted a girl.

Aria knew one voice but her mind still felt foggy, she couldn't put any names to any faces. Her arms and legs burned even more when she started remembering something.

_She was running... faster than she ever thought possible. She was searching for someone. A smell almost, led her further into a forest. Sounds of fighting and yelling erupted ahead of her, as a foul stench reached her nose. Running over the next hill she could see people but they had their backs to her. Looking at what they were facing, she saw a white baboon with browny grey tentacles spilling out from underneath it. For reasons unbeknown to her, she needed to destroy this being, but the people standing in front of it were in the way._

_Running at full speed towards the baboon, she screamed at the top of her lungs, "MOVE!"_

_Thankfully, the people heard her and did as they were told. Once the path was clear, she lunged at the beast with all her strength. Knocking it to the ground, she grabbed the hilt of a knife though she had no idea where it'd come from. Deciding there was no time to worry about where the sword had come from, she cut off the beast's head._

_Once the beast was defeated, it evaporated... and so did the sword she was holding. Something told her to turn around, and she did. She smiled when she found what she was looking for. Then it all went black._

Kouga!

Aria, realising what she was looking for, forced open her eyes, despite the burning sensation.

"Kouga?" she asked wildly, sitting upright.

Suddenly she felt a hand force her to lie back down.

"H-Hey! What're you-" she began before realising the hand belonged to the Wolf-Prince.

"Stupid! You're supposed to stay in bed when you're sick! You of all people should know that!" he scolded her.

Aria blinked her silver eyes at him. He looked tired. Worse than when they'd been travelling. His blue eyes were slightly red and puffy and he had bags under his eyes. She was about to say something about it before he walked out of the hut they were in. As soon as he'd left, a woman appeared next to her.

"You're Kagome, right?" Aria asked hesitantly, hoping the name wasn't wrong. The girl smiled and nodded.

Kagome began daubing Aria's forehead with a cool damp cloth which felt nice against Aria's burning skin. Aria watched the girl quietly. She was certainly beautiful. Warm, kind eyes under long, curved lashes were set in a pale heart shaped face. The girl was graceful and powerful at the same time. Aria could tell. She would be the perfect match for Kouga. So why did it annoy her more than the pain in her body when she thought of the two together.

"There!" Kagome announced, finished with putting a bandage around Aria's arm. "How do you feel?"

Aria sighed, "To be honest everything hurts. But I know it'll pass in a few hours, this has happened before."

Kagome smiled before leaving the hut. Aria heard a low growl beside her.

"That damn mangy wolf," a man in red mumbled. Inu-yasha? she thought.

"Why? What did he do now?" Aria asked him.

Surprised she'd heard him, Inuyasha scowled, "Nothing! That's exactly what he did!"

Aria raised an eyebrow, "That's hardly anything new. Why're you so mad then?"

Inuyasha frowned before she saw a light blush hit his cheeks. He began a recount of how, while, Aria was still unconscious, Kouga had made no approaches to Kagome whatsoever._ None. _

Aria giggled, "Let me get this straight! You're mad with Kouga, because while he was making sure someone was alright, he didn't once try to win Kagome's heart? Is that right? I thought you would be pleased about this!"

"I'm sure he's just doing it to make me agitated! Waiting until I feel comfortable that he's not going to steal Kagome before he does something huge!" Inuyasha mumbled.

"Pfft! I don't think Kouga's quite _that _intelligent!" Aria laughed. Inuyasha stared at the laughing girl before smirking as well.

"True!" he said to himself. "H-Hey!" he shouted as he saw Aria getting out of the bed she was in.

She gave him a confused look, "What is it?"

"Shouldn't you be resting?" he asked. Aria just smiled at him.

"The burning has gone. It should be okay," she told him before taking a few unsteady steps to the door.

Aria winced slightly. The pain hadn't gone. She felt uneasy, talking about Kouga trying to win Kagome's heart. Jealousy. She knew this feeling. She felt jealous whenever she looked at anyone smile... genuinely at least. Sure she was happy that others could smile but she felt empty and wanted to be able to fell as joyful as they did. Aria knew that she would feel jealousy to those who were happy... but why did she feel jealousy towards Kagome? Why did it feel like someone was crushing her chest whenever someone talked about the two together? It couldn't be-

She gave a small cry of alarm as she felt herself falling. Fantastic. She'd tripped over her own feet. She squeezed her eyes shut as she waited for the impact of hitting the ground. It never came.

Two arms encircled her waist and stopped her from plummeting any further. Opening her eyes, she turned and saw Inuyasha had been the one to stop her fall.

"Are you okay?" he asked worriedly.

Aria nodded before realising just how close their faces were.

"What the hell is going on?" they heard someone yell at the door. Looking up, Aria saw a shocked Kouga and Kagome standing at the opening. Aria realised just how misleading the position she and Inuyasha were in.

Aria's eyes locked with Kouga's own eyes as she silently begged him to understand the misunderstanding. Kouga's eyes seemed to flash with a tinge of despair as he turned heel away from the door.

Aria felt her heart sink as she watched Kouga walk away from her. Inuyasha righted her before going after Kagome.

Aria sunk to the ground, feeling worse than the burning inside her.

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A/N: Noo! COME BACK KOUGA! I'm sorry I'm such a mean author! (T.T) But I'll try and update ASAP!

So I guess I am continuing! :) I'm glad because I don't wanna stop writing! Plus I don't wanna be responsible for depression (I'm lookin' at you owlover17! No suicides till I say so! (o.e) Oh and btw, I think she's like maybe one or two years older than Kagome :P)

Thanks to the following amazing people who have reviewed, YOU GUYS ARE BRILLIANT!

With thanks to:

**Haunted Shy Girl**

**ultima-owner**

**Dezzie**

**owlover17**

Also thanks to everyone who added this their favourites/alerts! :D

**Now for the rest of you who hasn't reveiwed, you can review ANONYMOUSLY Y'KNOW?... REVIEW!REVIEW!REVIEW!**

**Please? The button's just there!  
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	12. 12: Misunderstandings

Aria bit the inside of her cheek. She had no idea how she was supposed to solve the problem between Kouga and her. Not only had she been an inconvenience for passing out from using her powers after a such a long time but now she'd gone and made his future wife Kagome, upset. Geez! It wasn't supposed to be like this! She'd just wanted to prove that she was going to be okay for travelling by getting up and walking out of her sick-bed... but no... she just had to go and trip over her own feet and make Inuyasha obligated to catch her. Thus, putting them both in an awkward position making Kagome upset. Aria sighed and sat down next to the tree she was now standing beside.

Although this was what she was telling herself, Aria couldn't help but have the tiny flicker of hope deep inside her that Kagome didn't like Kouga. After all, Kouga wasn't talking to her because she'd made Kagome cry but where were Kouga's feelings returned? Though now that she thought about it, why was Kagome upset about her and Inuyasha together? Even if there really was nothing going on between Aria and Inuyasha in the first place. Did Kagome return Inuyasha's love instead? Was that really true or her just over-thinking things?

If it was true then... just maybe... Aria gave a frustrated display of waving her arms before lying down on the soft grass beneath her... No... It wasn't possible.

Even if she did express her feelings for the Wolf-Prince, who on Earth would want to love the embodiment of evil?

"Mama!" she heard before Chise's head popped up.

Quickly losing the glum expression on her face, she smiled at the girl, "Hey! What have you been doing?"

"Playing with Uncle Ginta and Hakkaku!" Chise replied happily.

Kouga watched the two from a safe distance. He was being cowardly and hiding from her. He hated himself for it. He couldn't talk to her but he couldn't leave her alone. He wanted to make sure for himself that she really wasn't in love with that two-faced mangy half-mutt. Besides, Inuyasha and Aria had only met twice... they couldn't possibly have developed _those _kinds of feelings in such a short time! Unless they'd met before... Kouga clenched his teeth. Why did he feel so irritated about this? Normally he would have been _happy_ that the mutt was getting away from Kagome but now he wasn't too sure.

He looked back at Aria whose long chestnut hair was currently being plaited by Chise. Aria had immediately put on a bright face when Chise had appeared but even so, for some reason the smile was nowhere near as warm as he'd remembered. She still seemed tired and down since she'd woken up. His eyes widened as he saw Kagome approaching the two.

"Um... Aria?" Kagome asked tentatively, quickly gaining Aria's attention. To her, Kagome looked on the verge of tears... not only that but her eyes seemed red and swollen. Had she been crying all night?

"Kagome! Um uh- Please sit!" Aria began, unsure of how to handle the crying woman before her. Surprised from her abrupt actions, Kagome sat down beside the girl.

"I-I wanted to ask you something... about the other day?" Kagome began. Aria inwardly sighed from relief. This was the perfect chance to clear everything up.

"Go on," Aria urged.

Kagome took a few deep breaths before nearly shouting, "Are you in love with Inuyasha?"

Aria, though shocked by the yelling, began to babble, "N-no! No! Of course not! How could I be? L-Last night was a huge no... catastrophic mistake! I slipped while trying to walk and Inuyasha stopped me from falling! Nothing else happened!" By now it practically seemed as if Aria was worshipping Kagome from the many times she was bowing through her talking. "Please believe me Kagome! I - We didn't do _anything_! I'm really sorry for any worrying you may have attained from our - my stupidity!"

"I-I believe you! Please stop apologising! So you really don't love Inuyasha?" Kagome asked, the tears beginning to disappear.

Aria enthusiastically shook her head, "No! None of any kind!"

Kagome sighed, "Thank goodness."

Kouga smiled from where he was 'hiding'. A sudden weight lifted off his chest.

"Are _you _in love with Inuyasha?" Aria blurted, unable to resist asking the question. She watched as a vibrant red crept over the human girl's pale cheeks. Aria grinned, "You do!"

Kagome blushed even further before retaliating, "Well you like Kouga don't you?"

Aria stopped. Completely stopped. No thinking, feeling, reacting. She suddenly seemed robotic in her movements, stiff and scripted, as if she were not moving of her own accord. She sat down and gathered Chise in her arms seeking warmth to fend off the chill that was starting to spread. Aria knew she harbored feelings for Kouga but she couldn't let them grow any further than what had already manifested.

"Aria? Are you okay?" Kagome asked, worried about why the girl's actions had radically changed.

She could only just make out Aria's choked reply, "I can't lo- can't lo- love! I can't! It's impossible! I shouldn't be able to! I can only... destroy..."

Kagome had no idea about what the girl was on about but from what she could see, Aria was just as capable of love as she was. There was no way she was going to let the girl think otherwise.

"Oh don't be silly! You can love! No-one said you can't! Besides you already _do _love! Look at the girl in your arms. Why are you holding her in your arms like that? And don't say it's out of pity or moral duty!" Kagome pointed out.

Aria looked at the little girl in her arms who was already looking back at her with her glistening green eyes, "I'm holding her," Aria said as if she only just realised Chise was in her arms.

Kagome rolled her eyes, _God she's nearly as dense as Kouga _and _Inuyasha!_

_"_Why?" Kagome urged, wanting her to say the words out loud.

She always assimilated the feeling of wanting be near Chise as motherly affection but surely that was her pure selfishness for wanting something she didn't have. The girl's green eyes suddenly seemed to pierce right through Aria's being. Realisation hit the silver-eyed girl like a bomb. "I love her?" she wondered, looking for confirmation from Kagome who nodded.

"I can love?" Aria asked almost as if she needed permission to do so.

Kagome nodded though began wondering why she suddenly talked as if she were a child. Anyone could see already that Aria had loved the girl so why was it so foreign to Aria herself? Resisting the urge to interrogate her, Kagome gave Aria a pat on the head and walked off, reminding herself to question Kouga about it later.

Aria watched dumbstruck as Kagome started walking back to the village. Bubbles of laughter started to spill from her lips as Aria soon came back to reality. Why hadn't she seen it before? She _could _love! The laughter began growing as she thought of the absurdity of it all. The head of all evil could _love! _Who'd have thought?

Kouga found himself laughing as well. Relief spread through him when he'd heard that she was not in love with the likes of Inuyasha. Then he was anxious and confused about her feelings towards him and now he was laughing at her ridiculousness about being unable to love. Kami knew she loved the little wolf-girl like her own flesh and blood. Although he was thoroughly amused by the strange antics of Aria's, he was slightly disturbed by the way she had acted earlier. What had lead her to think that she was incapable to love or be loved in the first place?

His ears suddenly picked up a light whirring coming from Aria's direction. The sound was getting louder as if...

Kouga was thrown forwards as something slammed into the back of his head. He turned around to see Aria glaring at him from where she was standing, covering Chise's ears.

"WHAT THE HELL KOUGA? WERE YOU LISTENING TO THAT WHOLE CONVERSATION? GO DIG A HOLE AND DIE IN IT BEFORE I BURY YOU ALIVE MYSELF! KAMI BETTER SAVE YOUR SORRY ASS!"

When she was finished shouting, she let go of Chise's ears and stormed back to the village before Kouga could say anything about it. Kouga stared dumbfounded at the two girls before rubbing the back of his now pounding head.

Then a loud crash resounded through the village.

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A/N: YAY! All cleared up! But reading back on everything, I've realised that as much as I love writing all this fluff, WE NEED TO GET BACK TO THE SERIOUS BUSINESS! Why? Because we'll get nowhere with all this fluff getting in the way of the plotline!

Thanks to the following amazing people who have reviewed, YOU GUYS ARE MORE THAN BRILLIANT! YOU ARE... The peanut butter to my jelly! OwO (sorry I've never tried peanut butter jelly sandwiches but I needed an analogy so that you'd know just how awesome you are!) *Must remember to try peanut butter and jelly... if you have had this please tell me if it's good or not :P*

With thanks to:

**Haunted Shy Girl**

**ultima-owner**

**Dezzie**

**owlover17**

**Vanessa123**

Also thanks to everyone else who added this their favourites/alerts! :D

**Now for the rest of you who hasn't reveiwed, you can review ANONYMOUSLY Y'KNOW?... REVIEW!REVIEW!REVIEW!**

**Please? The button's just there!  
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	13. 13: Beginning of a Long War

_Then a loud crash resounded through the village._

Kouga stared in horror as numerous houses crumbled to the ground. Not leaving any room to think, he sprinted towards the village, hoping desperately that Aria was safe.

Aria panted as she ran through the dusty streets of the village, trying to find Kagome and the others. It was happening again. This always happened. As soon as she had settled somewhere, Takeo would use his power to destroy her new home... it reminded her that she wasn't supposed to belong anywhere. Aria gripped Chise's small body close to her in fear. Not only was Chise in danger, but she herself was not in the best condition to protect her adopted child. Aria could still feel the dull burning of her previous overuse of her power. She needed someone else reliable to take care of her child. Soon she caught sight of Sango killing off an indistinguishable black creature. Breathing a short sigh of relief, Aria forced Chise onto Sango, not giving and explanation of what was going on. Aria ignored Chise and Sango's cries of protest as she sped off the way she had come.

She was concentrating on her power, trying to pinpoint where Takeo was. Keeping her focus, she ran faster before a bright flash of pink whizzed past her face. Skidding to a halt, she faced the direction of the pink flash. Aria saw a woman in red and white. She was beautiful and had long black hair... and was pointing an arrow at her. Aria panicked. There was no way she could hurt a _miko_. Choosing to not engage in a fight with a priestess of all people, Aria continued searching for Takeo, running away, dodging the miko's arrows. She cried out in pain as one of the arrows scratched her shoulder, feeling the spiritual power ripping at her, purifying her demonic body. Forcing herself to keep running, Aria stumbled to her feet and ran forward, only to crash into someone and fall back to the ground.

Kouga exhaled in relief when he saw that Aria had run into him, alive and ... almost well.

"What happened to your shoulder? Where's Chise?" he asked, looking around, sniffing the air for the little wolf-girl.

Aria groaned as Kouga helped her up to her feet, "Chise's fine. It's Takeo we need to worry about," she gasped as her shoulder stung.

Another bright pink flash erupted, leaving an arrow embedded into the wall behind them. Turning towards the direction of the arrow, Aria saw the same miko that injured her shoulder.

The miko laughed mirthlessly, "I see you are just as powerful as Takeo said. But you still need to learn your place, _demon!_" she said, spitting the word.

Kouga took a few steps forward, "I know you! You're that dead miko, the mutt always chases after!"

The miko scowled, "Begone demon, I have no business with you! I was ordered only to kill that girl behind you!" she said before firing an arrow at the two.

Kouga immediately picked up Aria and sped off, away from the village, before Aria punched him in the face.

"What the fuck was that for?" he yelled, putting Aria down.

"It's my fault the village is being destroyed! I can't just escape and do nothing!" she shouted, heading back towards the direction of screaming.

Kouga stood in front of her, "Are you insane? They _will_ kill you in that state," he said, pointing out the bandages that were aready around her waist and her shoulder which was bleeding profusely.

She scowled and pushed past him, "I'll be fine!"

Kouga went to go after until his feet stuck to the ground. Looking at his feet, he noticed a white glow encasing them, preventing any movement.

"Aria! You bitch! How am I going to help others or myself if I can't move?" he shouted at her.

She turned around and smiled grimly, "You can move around you know! The spell only stops you from moving if you're trying to find me!"

Kouga stared dunbstruck at the girl's back as she ran back into the chaotic village. He stood up straight and went to go find Kagome. If he couldn't protect the stupid demon woman he'd taken in, then he'd have to find someone else he could rely on to help her.

Aria stopped running to catch her breath, keeping a small barrier around herself to prevent any unwanted arrows from piercing her again. Everything hurt. Her body from the other day's overuse of power, her legs even more so from running, and for a peculiar reason, her chest was burning up. Thinking that the pain in her chest was probably her current usage of power, she staggered quietly through the village, hoping to find Takeo and end this war he was waging.

Then she heard the voice of the one she was looking for, "Aria, you look terrible," laughed Takeo from behind her.

Aria turned and grimaced at him, "Takeo," she hissed, sudden irritation filling her emotions.

Takeo raised an eyebrow, "Hmm. Suddenly we're no longer submissive and fragile, are we now?" Takeo said, smirking at the girl.

When Aria said nothing, he continued, "I'm here because someone stole a huge amount of power from me the other day, I'm assuming that was you Aria."

She was about to retort when a fist broke through her barrier, ramming into her stomach. Collapsing to the ground, coughing up blood, Aria growled.

"That's an appropriate sound for you to make, you animal!" Takeo laughed, kicking her in the side.

Aria gritted her teeth against the abuse, attempting to stand up. When she was on her feet, leaning against the wall, she glared at Takeo.

"This... fight... is over..." she gasped, every word she spoke, hurting her body.

Takeo frowned, "Over?"

Aria stood up straighter, looking her enemy in the eye, "I'm not going... to submit to death... but I'm not going to fight you either."

He clenched his teeth before smirking at her, "You may not want to fight, but I do!" he yelled, racing towards her, his hands glowing a dark purplish black.

Aria gave a hollow laugh, her hands glowing it's familiar white, "I knew you'd say that..."

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A/N: Sorry it's been forever but I'm moving house and had exams before! HECTIC! So I'm finally getting somewhere with this story :)

I have made plans to try peanut butter and jelly by the way! :P

With thanks to:

**Haunted Shy Girl**

**ultima-owner**

**Lati Buke**

**Moonlight Calls**

**Vanessa123**

Also thanks to everyone else who added this their favourites/alerts! :D

**Now for the rest of you who hasn't reveiwed, you can review ANONYMOUSLY Y'KNOW?... REVIEW!REVIEW!REVIEW!**

**Please? The button's there!  
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	14. Chapter 14: Here we go again

_He clenched his teeth before smirking at her, "You may not want to fight, but I do!" he yelled, racing towards her, his hands glowing a dark purplish black._

_Aria gave a hollow laugh, her hands glowing it's familiar white, "I knew you'd say that..."_

She watched closely as his hands flew at her, making a trail of darkness in their path. When his hands were close enough, she grabbed a hold of them and sending a blast of her own energy at him, neutralising his power. Keeping his hands in a firm grip, she yelled at him, "Why can't you let me be?"

Takeo growled as he jumped away from Aria, his hands released, "You still don't get it!" he said. "You will cause the world to be thrown into ruin!"

"I DON'T WANT TO DO THAT! I DON'T CARE ABOUT POWER!" she shouted back at him, feeling agony in her body, pain combined from Takeo and her power usage.

Takeo frowned disapprovingly at her, "It doesn't matter if you _care_ or not! Your power will consume you eventually, and then your mind will become a twisted, loathesome thing. I plan on killing you before that happens! Can't you see that I'm helping everyone, including you?"

Aria felt her breath pause momentarily. _Is that true?_ she thought panickedly. _Would my powers do such a thing?_

Distracted by her thoughts, Aria didn't see the darkly glowing hand that was speeding towards her head. Pain erupted as Takeo's fist collided into her, sending her flying across the dirt field. Takeo smiled maliciously as she fell to the ground unnmoving. The dark glowing aura in his hand suddenly began to take the shape of a long sword.

Aria lay still, hoping to catch Takeo off guard, ignoring the bruises and possible broken bones that marred her body. As Takeo drew closer, she prepared herself to attack.

Takeo raised the blade-shaped-power over Aria's form, "Now die, demon!"

He was about to bring the blade down on her chest when an arrow was shot into his hand. A blast of pink energy came from the arrow and ripped at his flesh, purifying his demonic body. Giving a shriek of pain, he looked wildly around for his attacker. His eyes met a girl, clad in a short green skirt and a white blouse. _Miko..._ was his first thought, before he noticed a group of people behind her. _Taijiya... monk...neko-youkai...kitsune...hanyou...wolf demon..._ he listed. Finding that the situation was weighed against his favour, he picked up the seemingly unconscious Aria, and held a blade made from his power at her throat.

"Nobody move!" he screamed, hoping to buy enough time to plan his escape. The miko and her group stopped, not wanting Aria to get killed. As they paused to think of how to save their captured friend, Takeo built up enough power to teleport him out of the situation.

Just as he began his spell, he felt Aria move in his hold. She turned her head to fix an eye on him. His eyes widened as he watched her give him a smirk. Her body suddenly began to glow before a bright light blinded him. Seconds before his spell would take him back to his hiding place, he felt a power, worse than the miko's energy, tear at him, stripping both flesh and power from his boy. In unimaginable agony, he released his hold on Aria and let his spell take him away from the cursed place.

Aria stumbled to her feet as her power's light and Takeo faded from sight. She gave a smile before feeling the burning power that she overused. A silent, imaginary but strong fire licked at her muscles, making her fall to the ground. Aria wanted to cry out fom the agony that was torturing her but at the sound of feet heading towards her, she bit her lip. She couldn't complain... she'd inadvertedly caused the village to be destroyed and put a lot of people in danger. A sudden numbness overcame her as a familiar aura encased her body, making her unable to feel the bruises, burning and shattered bones. She was vaguely aware of someone picking her up gently before a welcome darkness embraced her.

.~~~~ * * * ~~~~.

Kouga stared at the sleeping girl, lying on a mattress in Kaede's hut. Aria had not woken up for a week since she fell unconscious. She had bandages wrapped all over her body, her long brown hair covering part of the gauze that was wrapped around her forehead. Kagome had said that her left arm and a couple of ribs were broken and that they'd take longer to heal. She also said that she might have a concussion, not that he knew that it was, but it seemed dangerous to him. Chise, who was placed in the care of Kaede during the battle, came to place fresh flowers by her mother's beside every hour in daylight, every day that passed.

Kouga was unsure of what Aria did to Takeo, but from what the toll took on her body, he hoped that Takeo had received ten times worse. Engrossed in a mental monolouge about the many ways he could get revenge on Takeo, he h ardly realised Kagome who'd sat down beside him. She pushed a plate of food towards him.

"Here, you haven't eaten all week," she said, handing him the food.

Arrogantly touched by her concern for him, he took the plate she offered him and took a small bite of food, "I'm a demon you know. I don't always need to eat like you humans do."

Kagome smiled softly, "I know, just thought you might want some."

They stayed in silence as Kagome put a hand over Aria's forehead, "She's still burning up... she has no fever but her body's hot." Seeing Kouga's forlorn expression, Kagome gave a small smile and passed him a bowl of cold water with a rag swimming in it. "Here, try to keep her cool, but try not to wet the bandages."

Kouga looked startled at the foreign bowl in his hands; he had never learned to care or heal someone in his life. He flicked glances between Aria and the bowl of water in his hands. He was just about to voice his doubts when he realised Kagome was no longer hut. Breathing a large sigh, he gently placed the bowl beside Aria. He, carefully handling the rag as if it were as fragile as wet rice paper, pulled out the wet cloth and wrung out the excess water before looking hopelessly between the cool rag and Aria's limp body. Then he remembered the time that Aria had taken care of his pack only one or two weeks ago. Grasping corag with a little more confidence, he copied Aria's actions from his memory. Kouga cautiously dabbed at her forehead, hoping it would cool her down. His face twisted in concentration as he dipped the rag back into the cold water, wrung it out and placed it over her forehead. He did this continually until the water had warmed to room temperature, and he took the bowl of water outside of the hut before walking back to Aria's side. Sitting down, he placed one of his hands on her forehead, relieved to find that it was significantly cooler than before.

He sat there longer, not entirely aware that subconsciously, he was holding onto Aria's good hand, like she was on her deathbed. He looked at the girl's pale face, framed by her long brown waves of hair. He couldn't understand why he was so concerned for her well-being. She was stubborn, violent, always running away or causing him worry, rude, relentless when she started working, intelligent when she desired to be so, powerful, an endless source of entertainment, a kind of mother to Chise, for the most part selfless, beauti-

"Kouga!" called Kagome, breaking his trail of thought. He felt the blood rise a little into his cheeks when he remembered what he was thinking before the interruption.

"What is it?" he asked as calmly as he could, letting go of Aria's hand.

Kagome had now appeared in the doorway, holding a bowl of cold and fresh water. "Here, I refilled it for you," she said handing him the bowl before putting a hand on Aria's forehead, much like Kouga had done only moments ago. A flicker of surprise crossed her face before she broke out in a large smile, "Hey! Her body temperature's gone down a lot."

Kouga simply shrugged before wringing out the rag once more. Kagome watched Kouga as he placed the cool, damp cloth over Aria's forehead with more care than she thought possible from the brash Wolf-Prince. A small smile crept up on her lips before the left the hut yet again, not wanting to break the mood.

Kouga paused and sighed as he soaked the cloth in water again. "What am I going to do with you?" he asked, half adressed to the unresponsive Aria, half to himself. "If you aren't insulting me, sleeping, eating, attacking me or ordering me around, you're in danger or unconscious like you are now, causing me endless trouble." He wrung out the excess water and placed it back on her forehead. "Chise doesn't talk anymore. I think she's afraid you might die. But unfortunately for you, you can't afford that privilege, because you still owe me for letting you stay with my pack... and for putting that damn spell on me not too long ago." Kouga's hand absent-mindedly reached for hers again. "I really just want to go home now, but here _you _are, acting like a complete vegetable while we all worry our brains out for you." He paused, his face losing all expression. "You know, you really are a useless bitch," he laughed sadly.

He jolted when he heard a weak voice reply, "And you're a an annoying asshole..."

Kouga watched as her lids slowly opened against a week of sleep, to reveal her silver eyes. Aria gave a weak smile and squeezed his hand, before wincing. Aria groaned as she noticed the bandages around her arm and torso, "Please tell me I don't have to stay in bed until _this_ heals," she asked, pointing at her ribs. Kouga just grinned at her.

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A/N: Sorry it's been forever but I'm an imbecile and thought I'd posted this aaaaaaaages ago... Then I wondered why you all hated me for not reviewing then realised...there was no chapter to review on! So, here's the very late chapter and I'm open for verbal abuse about either my crappy chapter after so long, or my lack of commitment, you choose, you deserve it. Kouga's soo cute! ^w^ ...I'm gonna very much dislike the Kouga/Ayame pairing by the end of this (-.-") I'm so selfish...

Hope you had a good Christmas! If not, I hope this post cheered you up... unless you're mad at me for not updating... in which case, I'm very sorry... I'm useless.

With thanks to:

**Haunted Shy Girl**

**ultima-owner**

**Lati Buke**

**Moonlight Calls**

**Vanessa123**

Also thanks to everyone else who added this their favourites/alerts! :D

**Now for the rest of you who hasn't reveiwed, you can review ANONYMOUSLY Y'KNOW?... REVIEW!REVIEW!REVIEW!**

**Please? The button's there!  
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	15. Chapter 15: Bedridden

Aria lay down watching the sky as Chise rambled on about what different clouds looked like or what flowers she wanted to give her while she was sick. As much as she loved her little wolf girl, she couldn't help but be irked by the fact that she couldn't move anywhere until her ribs had healed. The only reason she was even allowed to be outside, was on the condition that someone carried her so that her ribs would not be moved as much. It was bad enough that while she was bed-ridden, the entire village had to undergo repairs because of what Takeo did. Now she had to worry about the person who had to babysit her almost every hour, feeding her, carrying her, making sure Chise didn't jump on her... today, it was a farmer whose house had been the least damaged, so he apparently had time to watch her. Unfortunately, the man had seen her fight with Takeo so he was rather frightened of her and made no attempt to talk to her if necessary. Not that she cared...everyone _should_ be afraid of her.

Kouga had run off somewhere always. Whether it was out to go continue wooing Kagome, check on his pack, fight Inuyasha or Naraku or just get away from the burden that was Aria, she didn't know; although she hoped it wasn't the latter.

"Um... Aria?" asked Kagome who was leaning over her, partially blocking her view of the sky. Clearly, Kouga was not with Kagome.

"Yes?"

"May I ask what you will be doing once you get better?" Kagome asked timidly. "If it's none of my business just tell me!"

Aria raised an eyebrow, "Going back to the den I suppose? Well, in truth, we were looking for Naraku and then there was the puppet, then I fainted, then the misunderstanding between me and Inuyasha, then the fight with Takeo, then I fainted and well... here we are. Since we've lost track of Naraku, I'm not sure what we'll be doing."

Kagome smiled, "That's good! Actually I was wondering if my friends and I could help you with your powers. I'm technically a miko myself, only I'm still learning how to control my powers too. We could learn together if you want or if our powers are similar in some way!"

Aria had frozen. _Miko? I knew she was powerful but no-one had told me she was a miko of all people! _She thought while trying to edge away as much as she could with a broken arm and ribs, feeling like she might contaminate the pure spirit near her. Kagome noticed the girl's sudden discomfort and reached out to her, only to have Aria flinch at the sight of the outstretched hand.

"Aria?" Kagome asked in a tone that sounded as though it could have been spoken to a young child. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing! I'm just... My chest hurts a little," Aria lied, putting on her forced smile. "The pain will pass, don't worry. I'll think about the training."

Kagome nodded and walked off, unsure if the silver-eyed girl was really okay. The incident with Takeo had not left the girl in the best spirits, as much as Aria tried to make people believe otherwise. She also felt that Kouga's absence might have something to do with it. But that was just a theory.

Aria sighed, thankful that the miko had left her alone. Ginta and Hakkaku had said that she was powerful, but they'd never told her she was a priestess. So not only was Kagome beautiful and powerful, now she also had a pure soul. What didn't that girl have? Furthermore, it was now clear to Aria why Kouga wanted her to be his bride. A pain ebbed in her chest, making her wince. She brushed it off, thinking it was because of her broken ribs.

Chise caught sight of Shippo and ran towards him, eager to play with someone around her age. Aria watched her child run off, her small bushy tail wagging behind her. _Lucky girl_, she thought enviously, sorely wishing she was able to get up and run around as well. The two demon children began jumping and shouting at someone. Before Aria could wonder who it was, Kouga appeared, scooping up Chise in his arms, patting Shippo's head. She raised an eyebrow. Since when did Chise _and_ Shippo jump in delight when they saw Kouga? And just how much had she missed while she was unconscious?

She watched the way Kouga held Chise, the way he made her laugh... the way he laughed with her... Aria jumped when a nearby bucket exploded. Everyone's gaze turned to the noise, staring at the shattered remains of the wooden bucket. Aria blushed brightly. That hadn't happened for quite some time since she met Kouga. This usually happened whenever she did nothing. It was as if her powers took over, creating trouble for her if she didn't do anything herself. It had happened many times before, but seeing as she had not been idle for quite some time, such an occurrence didn't show itself.

Kouga looked between the shattered bucket and one highly embarrassed Aria. She clearly did something to the bucket but it didn't seem like it was on purpose. He shrugged it off and turned to the green-eyed wolf-girl in his arms.

"Say, why aren't you with Aria?" he asked, genuinely curious as to why Chise had suddenly chosen him over her new mother.

Chise cocked her head to one side, "But I want to be with Father too!"

Kouga froze, a light blush covering his cheeks. What was the kid thinking? Aria was her mother, that was it! Where did 'Father' come from? He glanced at Aria, hoping she'd explain what was up with her kid, but she was not paying attention, she was gazing wistfully at a family working in the rice field. He could imagine exactly what she'd be thinking, wishing for a normal family life like that. Which reminded him of what he wanted to do when he got back to the village. He put Chise down, "Go play with Shippo, I have to go talk about boring stuff with your mother," he said, feeling weird about referring to Aria as a 'mother'. Not that she wasn't one, it was just that the phrase felt odd.

Chise smiled and ran off with Shippo to play in a nearby flower field. Kouga turned to Aria, "Getting bored I see."

She tore her gaze away from the family in the rice field and stared at the wolf prince looming above her, "How did you know I was bored?"

Kouga rolled his eyes, "You've been lying down all day, unable to move, of course you're bored."

Aria grimaced. It was true. She was bored out of her brain and knew she'd lose her mind if she spent another day as a bruised vegetable.

"Anyway, I have something to show you," Kouga said, grinning. Aria frowned. What on Earth was the idiot grinning for now?

She gave a small squeal as a pair of muscular arms picked her up bridal-style and began taking her away from the village. The man who was supposed to be watching her ran after the wolf demon, "Wait! She shouldn't be moved around so much!"

One glare from Kouga silenced the man and he kept walking, oblivious to the fact that the girl in his arms was now bright red. Aria had no idea what was going on, and yet, she couldn't have felt any safer. The arms around her provided a warmth and safety she would have never have thought possible. Almost instantly, she found herself dozing off, the gentle rocking of Kouga's strides along with the comfortable way he held her made her sleepy.

Kouga grinned at the sleeping girl in his arms. He would let her rest for now, but he would wake her up when he reached the place he wanted to show her. For some reason, he couldn't wait to see her expression.

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A/N: Okay so for anyone who was wondering what the point of this chapter was, it was a bored filler/almost-fluff chapter. Also to everyone who was asking about the colour of Aria and Takeo's powers, IT SHALL BE EXPLAINED IN LATER CHAPTERS :D

With thanks to:

**ultima-owner**

**Arekusandora**

**Moongirl12121  
**

**Moonlight Calls**

**Vanessa123**

Also thanks to everyone else who added this their favourites/alerts! :D

**Now for the rest of you who hasn't reveiwed, you can review ANONYMOUSLY Y'KNOW?... REVIEW!REVIEW!REVIEW!**

**Please? The button's there!  
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	16. Chapter 16: The Field of Flowers

Kouga grinned at the sleeping girl in his arms. He would let her rest for now, but he would have to wake her up when he reached the place he wanted to show her. He couldn't wait to see her expression when he showed her.

It didn't take long when Kouga had reached the top of a large hill, looking down on a massive field of flowers. Just by looking, he guessed that there must have been more flowers in the field, than there were hairs on their heads. The scent, though slightly overpowering to Kouga's sensitive nose, was sweet and velvety, carried on fine wisps of a breeze.

Kouga lay Aria down amongst a patch of blue and white flowers, being careful of her bruised body. He scowled as he observed her injuries more closely, recognising bruises on her arm that resembled fingerprints and small cuts along one side of her, where she'd been thrown to the ground.

He remembered Chise's face when she saw him carrying Aria's unconscious form into the village, her little green eyes widening in horror. No matter how many times anyone had tried, Chise remained silent for the entire week that her foster mother had lain unresponsive. Yet, although Kouga had spent nearly every hour by Aria's side, Chise had once taken him out of the hut and to this field of flowers. Kouga had no idea how the small girl had found the place, her silence not revealing a single clue, but the wolf-girl had wanted to show it to him, to present him with an image beyond the village.

Kouga noted to himself to thank Chise after Aria was healthy again.

He looked back down at the young woman lying in the bed of flowers. He was clueless as to the reason how her hair had somehow managed to lay out around her head prettily all by itself. He thought she would have looked incredibly picturesque, if it weren't for the bandages around her body.

Aria opened her eyes, her vision still blurry from sleep. A hazy blur of blue hovered over her head, making her think it was Kouga's eyes. As she mused over what a lovely shade of blue she saw, her nose caught the scent of the flowers around her. Using her right arm to rub the sleep away from her eyes, Aria glanced dazedly around her, noticing that the blue colour she had taken a liking to were not in fact Kouga's eyes at all; they were flowers. She was surrounded by flowers.

She was about to sit up on her own, when a hand slid behind her shoulder and pushed her upright, minimising the pain for her. Turning to find the owner of the assissting hand, she found her heart skipping a beat when she saw Kouga. Aria chided herself for getting so worked up at the sight of the asshole, but knew it was now beyond her control.

Kouga pulled every attempt to keep a straight face, trying not to grin immediately upon Aria's awakening. He watched as her eyes fixed on him, her expression was as if she'd forgotten that he had carried her to the unknown destination. After what felt like a lifetime, her eyes tore away from him and observed the garden around her. It was nearly impossible for him to keep the smug grin off his face, taking arrogant pride in himself for 'knowing' that Aria would love the field he'd taken her to.

"W-Where are we?" Aria whispered softly, as if the sound of her own voice would break the image before her. Kouga didn't answer her, mesmerised by the way her hair danced around her face in the breeze.

Aria saw the way he stared and abruptly felt self-conscious; averting her embarrassed gaze away from him and focusing on the blue flowers beside her.

He was about to say something that had been bugging him all the week she'd been unconsious, but he stopped when he saw threads of what looked like shining white mist, twisting out from Aria's fingertips. The fine threads spiralled out against the breeze and each of them wrapped around the stem of a flower. Aria then clenched her fingers, and the threads sliced the flowers from their stems, placing the freshly cut flowers upon her lap. The threads, still attached to her fingers, twisted and turned, weaving the cut stems of the flowers in her lap into a circle. Kouga watched fascinatedly, as the threads, although looking as if they were made of cloud, lifted and pulled the flowers like they were made with the strength of living rope.

The corners of Aria's mouth tilted upwards as she finished. She'd made these flower necklaces before with Chise, however, making one with a broken arm was indeed troublesome. Instead, Aria decided to take a risk, and used a small bit of her power to make the flower chain for her instead. She'd chosen the flowers that matched the colour of Kouga's eyes. Once the circle was complete, she gently picked up the thin flower wreath with her good hand and placed it around the wolf demon's neck. Aria couldn't help but giggle at Kouga's expression, and how much the delicate flowers clashed with the demon's rough personality.

Kouga looked down at the string of flowers that he had so intently watched the creation of. He remembered the time when he'd gotten Chise to fill Aria's hair with flowers until it was overflowing. Aria and Chise made these flower chain necklaces that day as well. He gently stroked one of the blue petals with a clawed finger. He looked up at Aria, only to find that she'd already made another one that encircled her head like a flowery crown.

"You should be careful. I don't want you sleeping for another week," Kouga said quietly.

Aria's silver eyes met his and she gave a small smile, "It's not a lot of power. It'll make me yawn at most. Don't worry, you'll be able to get back on the road soon enough. I even promised myself not to slow you down... Sorry."

"That's not what I meant!" Kouga said abruptly. Aria stared wide eyed at the Wolf Prince, who was currently in the midst of avoiding her gaze.

"What _did_ you mean?" she quietly asked, not entirely sure what she was hoping to get from his response.

Kouga glanced at her, before frustratedly folding his arms in front of his chest, a light pink forming over his cheeks; which Aria mistook for frustation rather than embarrassment. He didn't know exactly what he wanted to say, only that he didn't like her thinking that she was a burden to him. In fact, that was probably the last thing Kouga thought she was. In any case, he made an attempt to say what had been thinking the past few days.

"What I meant was... well... that is..."

Aria leaned ever so slightly closer, waiting for a clear answer.

Kouga continued, his voice going from his normal brash tones to an unnatural quietness, "I'd rather you..."

She leaned in a little more this time, trying to hear his voice.

"WHY ARE YOU GETTING SO CLOSE TO ME?" he yelled.

Aria flinched at having her ears being screamed into, "WHAT THE FUCK WAS THAT FOR? I WAS GETTING CLOSER 'CAUSE I COULDN'T HEAR YOU!"

"Then why didn't you tell me that in the first place?" Kouga growled, keeping his voice down for two reasons, the first being incase they attracted attention, the sceond, incase Aria got too angry; the young woman might have been injured badly, but Kouga was pretty sure she wasn't incapable of kicking his ass if she wanted to. Also, if she did kick his ass, she might end up injuring herself further.

Aria went silent. She knew the answer to the question but did not want to say it. The reason she had not requested him to speak up, was because, in her opinion, she'd never seen Kouga so cutely lost for words. And because he looked so adorably bashful, Aria had wanted to hear what he was going to say. But to her dismay, the vision had broken quite easily.

She fingered the flower tiara on her head idly, answering his question, "Well. I didn't want to interrupt you. You looked like you had something important to say."

"Damn straight I had something important to say!" Kouga yelled, standing up in his frustration. He looked down to see a very surprised looking Aria. He sighed and sat down, mentally berating himself for acting like an idiot.

"If it's so important, then tell me," Aria said, smiling at him.

When Kouga remained silent, she began making more flower chains with her powers, letting the white spindly threads wrap around her, taking hold of various coloured flowers. A large and warm hand covered the hand she was using her powers with. Her eyes widened and the concentration on her abilities was immediately gone, the white threads vanishing like mist.

"Stop doing that," Kouga said firmly, staring at his hand that was holding onto hers.

Arira, quite shocked by his actions, began rambling, "B-But you said I could use my powers back when-"

"Not if it hurts you everytime you use them!" Kouga interrupted loudly, his blue eyes suddenly fixed on hers. He held eye-contact briefly before looking away again, cheeks red and hand still clasped over hers.

"I hate it when you use your powers. You get all weird, before you black out. Then you don't wake up for days. No matter what anyone does, it's like you're dead... but your body's as if it's always on fire. Chise never talks to anyone. Then I can't stop worrying about you, knowing I can't do anything but watch while you burden yourself... I hate it."

He removed his hand from hers and covered his face with it, embarrassed from what he was saying. He went stock-still when he felt her fragile hand pry his own from his face. Once his face was uncovered, she leaned forward and kissed him on the cheek. She pulled away with a bright red face, watching Kouga's frozen expression of shock, "Thank you for worrying. I'll try to not overdo it."

Kouga remained in the same paralysed position, quite unsure of what to make of the situation. After he had told her what he thought about her powers, he expected her to get angry, due to the fact he was the one who had asked her to try using them in the first place. A kiss, even if it was on the cheek, baffled him entirely. He was about to respond when Chise and Shippo barreled into him, tackling him to the ground.

"Play with us! Play with us!" they chanted, laughing as they clambered all over him. Aria watched in surprise before laughing.

"Oh dear! It seems even the great Wolf-Prince is powerless against two highly-energetic children," Aria mocked, laughing even more at his struggles against the young demons.

"I've been taking care of them - pretty much every day - since you've woken up. Where do you get the energy to keep up with them Aria?" Kouga gasped, fighting to get the children off of him.

Feeling the slightest bit of sympathy for him, Aria smiled, "Okay you two, you can stop harrassing Mr. Grumpy!"

The effect was almost instantaneous, the kids leaping off the now bruised Kouga and then talking with Aria excitedly about their day. Chise noticed the flower chains Aria and Kouga were wearing and demanded that she and Shippo should have some as well.

Kouga watched happily as the three made more flower chains out of all sorts of flowers. Deciding to join in, Kouga rushed forward and scooped up Aria, running away at a pace that the children could keep up with. The two laughed and ran after them. It didn't take long before the sun was setting and the children were exhausted. They all lay down on the ground and the children snuggled close to Aria, sound asleep. Aria held them close, with her good arm wrapped around them, resting her head against Kouga's shoulder, feeling a strange calmness that she hadn't felt in years.

"I wish it could stay like this..." she murmured before falling into a deep sleep.

Kouga grinned and carefully wrapped his arm around her, pulling her close enough to kiss her on the forehead, whispering, "My thoughts exactly."

**

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**

A/N: Awww I love Kouga! I hope I made this relatively fluffy x3! if not, suggestions accepted :) Sorry I've been away for ages... I don't have an excuse. I just haven't been in the mood to write for a fair while. Anyways back on topic, I know that both Aria and Kouga have kind of recognised feelings for each other, but unfortunately, I made the both of them unbelievably dense to either realise or admit it. So I am sorry. They will sort themselves out soon enough ;) Next chapter will include a little insight on Aria's past... I CAN'T WAIT (even though I'm the author and I should probably know this -.-")

With thanks to:

**Zuma12121**

**XXTakaraXX**

**o0CrimsonsDragon0o**

**Moongirl12121**

**x3sYellowie**

**Bloody Midnight**

**Moonlight Calls**

**Vanessa123**

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	17. Chapter 17: Kimonos Need I say more?

Aria took a deep breath, entirely satisfied with the fact that her ribs had healed already. It was unnaturally quick for broken bones, but she assumed her powers decided to enhance the healing progress. Her left arm was still broken however.

"Thank you! I can finally get around now!" Aria sighed blissfully to Kagome, who was rolling the bandages up to pack away in her yellow bag.

Kagome smiled. "Although a couple broken ribs didn't stop you from getting around either," she said in a teasing way, watching bemused as Aria's face slowly turned red.

The silver-eyed girl knew all too well what Kagome was insinuating. She remembered what had happened a week ago, right after she'd fallen asleep in the flower field with the kids and Kouga.

_She could hear faint noises in the back of her mind, sounding like a multitude of voices in the distance. As she wondered what they were, the voices grew louder and familiar. _

_"Do you think we should wake them up?" asked a feminine voice quietly._

_A male's voice answered in relatively hushed tones, "They _have _stayed asleep all night and half the day."_

_Another woman spoke up, "But they look so cute like that!"_

_A rough voice interjected loudly, "Here! I'll wake the ass up!"_

_Then she heard a noise that very much sounded like someone punching another person, before she felt something move under her head._

_"Why the fuck did you do that?" yelled a fifth voice. _

_A loud chorus of "Shhh!" sounded before Aria felt the need to see what was going on rather than hear it._

_Squinting against the harsh midday light, she found four faces looming over her head, of whom she came to recognise as Kagome, Inuyasha, Sango and Miroku. She looked around dazedly when she noticed Chise and Shippo sitting next to her in the places where they'd been sleeping. Then she remembered the events of the past day and sat up ubruptly, only to find that she'd fallen asleep on the Wolf Prince who was currently massaging a sore head. _

_"Look! You woke her up you damned mutt!" Kouga yelled at Inuyasha._

_Aria's face went pink as she looked at Kagome and Sango's knowing grins as they flicked their stares between her and Kouga; letting their minds come up with a whole manner of scenarios that could have occurred between the two. However the two women, upon remembering that there were children with them, realised that anything that could have happened would have been innocent at best. _

_This fact didn't stop a certain monk's thoughts._

_"Well, well, well. You two are getting along _much_ better than you appear," Miroku said nonchalantly, raising an eyebrow at Aria. _

_She was about to explain that nothing like 'that' had happened when Sango smoothly reached out and slapped him with such force and ease, that Aria concluded that slapping the monk was a reccurrent habit of Sango's. Aria turned her head a little to see what Kouga had thought of the monk's comment, when he startled her by gently lifting her into the air, carefully placing his hands off of her injuries. _

_Kagome and Sango gave little squeals of delight, taking a deep interest in the relationship between Aria and Kouga, while the boys just looked away awkwardly, not really interested in the goings-on anymore. _

_Aria felt like time wasn't going fast enough. There she was, suspended in air for all to see, in the strong arms of the Wolf Prince. And although she felt embarrassed, the only thing she could think of was how beautifully the way the reflection of the sky made his eyes even bluer. _

_Kouga, though somewhat reluctant, felt the need to place her back on her feet. In doing so, he kept his eyes on hers, commenting to himself about how light she was and whether or not he should be paying attention to her health besides the obvious broken bones. As soon as she was planted on her feet, he walked off, in search of Ginta and Hakkaku, for reasons that were unbeknown to him. _

_Aria, after watching him disappear, recalled the events of the day before. The field, the conversation, the children... She went even redder as she remembered the moment of which fuelled on impulse, when she kissed him on the cheek. Soon after they returned to the village, Kagome and Sango interrogated her for details until Aria relented, telling them everything that happened... excluding the content of their conversation. _

Kagome handed Aria a bundle of fabric when she had finished packing up the bandages. Aria looked at the bundle quizzically before Kagome explained, "It's a temporary change of clothes seeing as the dress you're wearing needs a wash," she said, indicating to the fur dress Aria was already wearing. Aria smiled her gratitude before Kagome left the hut so that Aria could get changed.

The girl easily slid out of the fur dress, quickly adapting with her broken arm. It wasn't long before she realised she was given a rather pretty kimono, made from what looked like a pale green silk fabric embroidered with silver blossoms, in her bundle of clothes. Aria wondered if Kagome had accidentally handed the beautiful piece of clothing over to her or not. As Aria sat in front of the pile of clothes, examining each piece carefully, only to realise that each item of clothing she'd been given, were to go with the kimono. Not noticing how long she'd spent considering whether or not she would wear the kimono, Aria spent minutes over the question.

Kagome, wondering what was taking the girl so long, entered the hut again to check up on Aria. The silver-eyed girl looked up at the miko with a quizzical expression.

"Are you sure it is okay for me to wear this?" Aria asked Kagome, holding up the kimono. "Surely you had a simple yukata prepared for me to wear, not this fine piece of clothing."

Kagome sighed, wondering how much the girl had gone through, to not recognise a simple gesture of kindness. "No, I don't have a yukata to give you. Although I do need that kimono later, I'm giving you the kimono to wear for a little while. You need it now more than I do. When your dress is cleaned, you can give me back the kimono."

Aria looked down at the kimono with a strange expression that Kagome couldn't name.

"Do you need help putting it on?" Kagome asked her.

The odd expression left Aria's face and she smiled up at the miko, "Despite how I look, I've been taught to put on a kimono by myself, but with this-" she said, gesturing to her broken arm. "-I think I might need a little help... If it's no trouble for you of course!" Kagome just smiled and went to help put the kimono on Aria.

As Kagome proceeded to practically turn Aria into a living mannequin, Aria could not stop feeling melancholic about the memories that stirred up from seeing the kimono.

_A six year old Aria stood in front of a large mirror made of polished silver, as a maid fussed over her, dressing her in a richly embroidered kimono. As the maid started to work on the child's hair, a blue-haired boy, the same age as Aria, bustled into the room, a big grin coating his face. He stopped upon seeing Aria._

_"Woah! You look like an old lady Aria!" the boy giggled._

_Aria pouted and turned to face the boy, hardly caring for the maid that was having difficulty fixing her hair, "That's not nice Takeo!"_

_Takeo stopped giggling and simply smiled, "I know. I'm sorry. You look really nice, I promise!"_

_The girl smiled back and ran over to hug the blue-haired boy, "You're the best big brother ever!"_

_Takeo laughed and ruffled the girl's hair, much to the maid's dismay, "Of course I am! Now let's go find father!"_

Aria could almost have laughed, if it weren't for the fact Kagome was there and wouldn't know why she would be laughing. It seemed so far away to Aria, her and her brother's childhood. She almost wished she could return to that time, before all the chaos over the 'light' and 'dark' came over them.

When Kagome was finished, she stood back and admired her work. The kimono worked wonders on the demon girl with the silver blossoms matching nicely with her eyes; the kimono made her look less like a stray animal and more like a sophisticated lady. They'd wrapped her long hair in a simple bun, decorated with a few flowers that Chise had brought for her when she was still bed-ridden. Kagome could not help but beam brightly at the girl, eager for Kouga to see her. It didn't take long until Aria found herself being forcefully pulled towards the door.

"Hey Kagome! Wait! What about my dress?" Aria flustered, not understanding why Kagome was so intent on getting her outside.

Kagome made no hint of slowing down and pulled Aria out into the midday sun, the light immediately illuminating the silver blossoms on the kimono, "Don't worry about that. We'll get it later."

"Where are we going?" Aria asked.

"We're just walking," Kagome said overly-brightly.

"Walking? You're practically dragging me Kagome! Please slow down."

Complying to the girl's wishes, she slowed down to a brisk walk, leading the unsuspecting girl to where the rest of their mismatched group were waiting. Aria could've stopped dead in her tracks when she saw Ginta and Hakkaku waving at her from a distance. Feeling self-conscious about how she looked, Aria fidgeted with the kimono, making sure everything was in perfect order, her childhood lessons in ettiquette suddenly taking over. Kagome noticing her discomfort, stopped and faced the girl.

"You look lovely! I'm sure Kouga will think so as well!" Kagome said enthusiastically.

Aria's face immediately began to turn red, much to Kagome's amusement, "Since when was Kouga the reason for my wanting to have a kimono looking neat?" she blurted, before breaking out in apologies for her rudeness.

She was in the middle of her twenty-seventh apology to Kagome, when Kouga's voice interjected, "It took you two long enough!"

* * *

**A/N: NYEH! I'm sorry I left it on a cliffie! I'll give you a short drabble as apologies :)**

**AND OMG! 90 Reviews! THIS IS LIKE A FRICKIN' MILESTONE FOR ME! I LOVE YOU ALL! T^T **

**Can I just say that all of your comments are so nice and you guys are the most amazing reviewers ever? Countless times you guys have rendered me blissfully happy! I love reviews... alot. To the point where if I could give everyone a cookie for everytime they reviewed, I would... but I'm pretty sure sending food in the mail would be weird... you know, beside the fact I'd have to ask your addresses for that... ehehe. So Instead I'll have to give you all one very large cyber hug and one extra large virtual cookie... and not the bad kind of cookies :)**

With thanks to:

**XXTakaraXX**

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	18. Two Little Matchmakers

**A/N: Hello! So this is a really little random bit of work I decided to write, that takes place during the week that Aria was knocked out after her little battle shall we call it, against Takeo...*mutters* That annoying bastard... And it shall be called, Chapter 14.5: The Little Bit Of Writing That Tigeresssa Was Too Lazy To Write Out Until She Felt Guilty For Always Making Her Readers Wait For Long Periods Of Time Before Any Sign Of An Update Ever Rears It's Monstrous And Vengeful Head... **

**Or maybe simply,**

**Chapter 14.5: T-L-B-O-W-T-T-W-T-L-T-W-O-U-S-F-G-F-A-M-H-R-W-F-L-P-O-T-B-A-S-O-A-U-E-R-I-M-A-V-H  
**(Pronounced= _tilbowt-twut-litwoos-fug-fam-herw-flipot-bas-soarer-rimm-MAHveh_)

**Enough of my ridiculousness! I hope you like it!**

* * *

Chise was out yet again to pick more of her mother's favourite flower to place by her bedside. The little girl wanted her to see them the minute she woke up, in hopes that it would make her feel better. Everytime she picked a flower, she made a little prayer that her mother would get better, making a wish upon it, and keeping her wish a secret until it came true. She never spoke to anyone until her wish was granted, incase she accidentally revealed her wish, destroying all her hard effort in helping her mother get well again.

The little wolf girl saw the kitsune from the first day she met her mother, Shippo his name was. Shippo came over to her and smiled.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

Chise, though wanting desperately to tell him what she was doing so that he could help, shook her head in refusal of telling him.

Shippo's face fell, until he brightened up again almost instantly, "Then let me show you something!"

Chise watched with great fascination as the little fox boy performed magic for her, making her gasp and laugh with delight. Shippo enjoyed the enthusiastic company, not really having the chance to play with a lot of children his age. He continued to make her laugh until she was clutching her sides.

They continued to spend the day with Shippo mostly entertaining Chise by playing various games. The girl would laugh until her heart's content, but she still never uttered a word. It was only when they settled down to share Shippo's crayons that he began to get some responses out of her.

"So what are the flowers for?" he asked as casually as he could.

Chise smiled sadly while pointing at the hut where Aria lay unconscious, as she had been for four days now. Shippo felt a pang of sympathy for the girl, knowing what it's like to be unsure if someone important to you was going to die. Feeling an overwhelming sense of responsibility, Shippo took hold of Chise's hands, declaring, "Then let's go fill her room with all the flowers we can find!"

Chise gave him a look that asked _How?_

He thought about it briefly before grinning brightly, "Let's follow our noses!"

It didn't take long before they found that beyond a hill, there was a large and beautiful field of flowers. It was so pretty to the children, that they completely forgot their reason for coming there. They played more games, taking delight in the new setting. When they were beginning to feel the exhaustion from exerting so much energy, Shippo asked Chise a question that had been bugging him for a fair while, "Hey Chise, if Aria's your mother, then what's Kouga? Is he your father?"

Chise gave it some thought but ended up shrugging her shoulders, not knowing quite what the Wolf-Prince was to her. Her instincts told her he was the Alpha Male of her new tribe, but her mother and her Alpha seemed to spend a lot of time together... so what _did _that make him?

"Well do you want him to be your father?" Shippo asked.

It didn't take much time before Chise nodded smiling.

Shippo nodded in approval, "It would be good that way, since Kagome and Inuyasha like each other, Kouga would be getting in the way. Your mother and Kouga clearly like each other too! The only sensible thing to do, would be to get them married! In a field of flowers like this!" Shippo cried, throwing petals in the air. Chise and Shippo spent the rest of the afternoon making plans, hoping that with a little extra help on the side, they could bring the two dense adults together.

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**A/N: Yes this is the Flower Field from Chapter 16 ;) Thanks to Moonlight Calls for the plot bunny :)**

Also thanks to everyone else who added this their favourites/alerts! :D

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	19. Chapter 19: Festival

_She was in the middle of her twenty-seventh apology to Kagome, when Kouga's voice interjected, "It took you two long enough!"_

Aria jumped at the sound, not really being so close in proximity to Kouga, since the morning they'd been woken up in the flower field. Everytime she did get close, she could feel her heart beating in her ears, embarrassment climbing to a point where it was impossible to look the wolf demon in the eye.

Although, now that she thought about it, Kouga had not been present many times during the past few days in which her ribs had healed. She wondered briefly about where he could've been before brushing the thought away.

Instead, she looked pointedly at Kagome, maiking sure she didn't even see Kouga from the corner of her eyes, for fear of turning the most unsightly red. "Why are we 'late'? What's going on?"

Sango appeared, dressed in a pale pink yukata and her hair tied up in a bun similar to hers. Aria noted that it was not the demon slayer's usual attire. "We're going to a festival in the nearby village," Sango said with a bright smile.

They all nodded their mutual confirmation of going to the festival. Aria looked at all of them; obviously except Kouga; and noticed that only Miroku, Sango, Inuyasha (assumedly Kouga) and herself were dressed up to go to a festival.

"Wait! Kagome, aren't you coming as well?" Aria asked.

The miko smiled gently, "No, I'm staying back to look after Shippo and Chise while you all go have fun."

Aria could've groaned when it was confirmed that Kouga would be coming to the festival as well, but stopped herself when she felt an arm turn her around. When she knew it was Kouga turning her to face him, the blood quickly ran to her face as she tried to avoid looking him in the eyes. Although the task of not meeting the demon's eyes proved impossible when he spoke, "Aria, are you feeling okay?"

Aria sighed to herself defeatedly, as his blue eyes caught hers, holding them there. She nodded, not really knowing what to say. Kouga smiled and took her hand leading her towards the rest of the group. Aria could hear Kagome and the others saying good-bye to each other as they set off, but the girl's attention was more focused on what she realised she was seeing. Kouga... in a yukata... with his hair down...

Feeling Aria's eyes boring into the back of his head, Kouga whipped around to face her, "What? Is something wrong with the way I look?"

She smiled at him as he searched himself for something amiss. "No. Nothing at all. You just look very - different."

Kouga looked Aria up and down, "So do you. Who would've thought a wild girl like you could look so..." He looked at her again, wondering how Kagome had 'coincidentally' conjured up a kimono that matched Aria's silver eyes perfectly. "...different?"

"Is that a compliment I hear?" Aria smirked, amused by the way he avoided her gaze and kept walking, seemingly ignoring her. They walked in a comfortable silence when Aria asked a question that had been on her mind.

"So you don't eat humans. Why is that?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, "Wondering why you weren't killed on sight back when I met you?" Aria nodded, waiting for his real reply.

"Well, I guess ever since I met Kagome, we just kind of - stopped. Though, I think ever since I told my tribe I was going to marry her, they began to see humans as more than just food," Kouga said, purposefully not mentioning that he'd kidnapped Kagome in the first place.

"And you haven't wanted to eat humans since?" Aria questioned. Demons were generally man-eaters by nature, it was slightly unsual for an entire tribe of demons to suddenly turn around their diet.

Kouga smirked, "It was hard at first but after a short while, it wasn't all that much of a difference. Just a lot more hunting is involved."

Aria returned the smirk, "Is that why your hair is down? You think the villagers will drive you out if they see you're a 'man-eating' demon?"

Kouga turned to face the girl, stopping her in her tracks. He leaned a little closer to Aria, "Would you like a big sign on your forehead saying 'Beware, Evil' appear when you get to the festival?"

Aria sighed, "True. Although why _are_ we going to a festival all of a sudden?" Aria could've sworn she saw the entire group flinch at her words but waited for someone to explain before she jumped to conclusions. No-one did.

"Hello? Would anyone mind answering my question?"

She saw them all briefly glance at each other before Kouga answered, "Well actually, we think it's best if we wait until we get to the village first."

They all walked in silence for a while, letting the night sink in, stars beginning to show through the darkening velvet sky. Impatience getting the better of her, Aria sidled closer to Kouga sending hard, blatantly obvious gazes at him, hoping that he'd understand that she wanted answers.

Kouga rolled his eyes at her antics, not really wanting to tell her what was going on. What _was_ going on was that he was hoping Takeo would be hiding in this village. Kouga had spent most of his free time tracking Takeo, in hopes of finding his whereabouts. It was only two days ago that someone had informed them of a man who matched Takeo's description, was staying at the village they were headed to. Then upon discovering this festival was going to be held, Kouga and the others decided that going to investigate during the festival would be a perfect distraction, letting them search discreetly and without being noticed by the enemy. Ginta and Hakkaku were already at the festival in disguise, keeping an eye out for the bastard. Although he knew Aria wouldn't willingly comply with his plans, he and everyone else had a large bone to pick with the guy. Inuyasha said he simply wanted a fight but everyone knew he was royally pissed that the village had been attacked.

Besides, he wanted to know exactly what was going to happen to Aria, and by association: the world, if she chose not to fight with Takeo. Aria clearly didn't know, so Takeo was next in line as an information carrier.

Disappointed that Kouga had not relented after fifteen minutes of hard staring, Aria gave up; she heard the demon beside her give a sigh of relief when she finally stopped drilling holes in the side of his head with her eyes. It was another half an hour, before they caught sight of the village. The buildings were lit with hundreds of lanterns in different colours, and the sound of music reached the small group of people, hundreds of metres away.

A soft tune was just audible to Aria, carried on the light breeze, that she recognised. Her expression turned sombre as she remembered that she'd heard the tune being played in the last village she'd lived in before she met Kouga. The man who had played the song on the flute, was the one who had let her take refuge in his village. He was old and had wrinkles in his face that had formed from the many times he had smiled in his life. More times than she deserved, that smile had pointed in her direction as well. She never found his body that day she met Kouga and wondered if he was still alive.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Kouga took hold of her hand, "You look pale. Are you sure you don't want me to take you back?" he asked, noting how upset she looked.

"I'm alright. If I really wanted to go back, I would have run long ago," Aria joked lightly.

"Takeo once said you were siblings. Is that true?" Kouga asked, hoping she'd be open for easy, seemingly-non-interrogative questions.

He watched her eyes lose some of their usual shine.

"We are siblings now only by blood... twins actually. Takeo's older by a few minutes," she mumbled.

"You look nothing alike," Kouga remarked, pleased when she gave a short laugh. "Although if you're supposedly the 'darkness', why does your power have a white glow, instead of the dark purple Takeo has?"

Aria made a face as if remembering something while she spoke, "Well, I think I was once told by the prophet that we were like the Chinese Yin and Yang. He said that it must have been that way because we're twins; I'm darkness, but like the black half of the Yin and Yang, there's a spot of white, and that's where my power's colour comes from. If that makes sense..."

Kouga shrugged, as if to say it made sense, but still seemed strange to him. As they neared the village, Kouga asked another question, "Who is this - prophet?"

Aria paused for a second and Kouga could see the grimace that flicked across her face, illuminated by the festival lights. "The prophet of our clan is the one who knows when the two demons of light and darkness appear. He tells us what we have to do as spirits in a demonic body. Our family must always have a prophet or the 'blessing' of the two human demons will pass on to a different family."

Kouga was somewhat disappointed as Aria was pulled away from him by Sango, both girls excited by what the festival offered. As he took a step after them, he was hit by a wave of smells, a mix of various foods, humans and incense. He noticed Inuyasha beside him wrinkling his nose against the scents like he was. Kouga began to panic however, when he lost both sight and scent of Aria amongst the crowd. Inuyasha, much to his irritation, noticed that he was looking for the small silver-eyed girl and smirked in his direction.

"She'll be fine y'know? Sango's with her," Inuyasha teased, relishing in what appeared to him as the wolf demon's moment of weakness.

Kouga just glared at the hanyou and the monk grinning suggestively behind him, muttering over the crowd at them, "Whatever! I don't care. Let's just find the bastard."

~(o)~

After a couple of hours of eating, playing games and marvelling at various street performers, Aria and Sango sat down at an empty stone bench, letting their feet rest. While Sango had been watching Aria to see if she appeared to catch any trace of Takeo, Aria had been worrying about where Inuyasha and Kouga had gotten off to when she wasn't being entertained by the festivities. After all, the first time she met Inuyasha, she'd had to stop Kouga from attacking him; who knew what mayhem they'd cause left unattended and Miroku did not seem like he was capable of pulling a full-blooded demon and a half-demon away from a fight.

Sango sighed, exhausted from walking around. She looked at her new friend beside her, wondering how such a petite girl could be the center of so much trouble. But then again, the Shikon Jewel was _tiny_ and had caused far more than enough woe for too many people. Hearing Kouga's explanation of Aria's identity had made her nervous about letting the girl stay in the village, but after watching her at the festival, it was hard for her to believe she was pure evil like she said she was. Kouga was right... something was amiss with the whole situation.

Aria's eyes lit up as she noticed something in the distance. Sango followed her eyes, to catch sight of Inuyasha's silver hair in the crowd with Miroku and Kouga beside him. They were both walking away from them, and calling out to them seemed futile against the noise of the crowd and sound of music combined. Sango watched in fascination as Aria bent down, grasped a small pebble, stood on the stone bench and hurled the rock towards the trio of guys. She was even more impressed when the pebble managed to just bounce off the top of Kouga's head, making him turn around and search for the perpetrator.

The silver-eyed girl grinned devilishly at Kouga when he caught sight of her, realising that she'd thrown the pebble at him to get their attention. Aria stepped off the bench and waited with Sango for the other three to arrive.

Aria was still slightly caught off guard, seeing Kouga in a yukata and with his hair down, feeling her cheeks growing a little warm. "Where did you two get off to?" she asked them when they were within earshot.

She didn't get an answer however, as Sango suddenly suggested that she show Inuyasha and Miroku something they saw back in the festival, leaving her with the wolf-prince. They stood in a comfortable silence for a few seconds, then began ambling into the crowd. The two marveled at various displays and stalls that were around, when Aria felt someone suddenly tap her on the shoulder.

* * *

**A/N: Okay look... I know the Chinese Yin and Yang thing was a bit far-fetched, you know like how the hell did the Chinese get to Japan and when? Well it's just a massive plot-device that helps me explain the colour of their power.**

**AND 100 REVIEWS? ONE HUNDRED REVIEWS? *Tears up* Thank-you everyone! I'd like to thank my Mother, for - haha kidding, my Mother hates me watching anime xD **

Could not have been done without:

**XXTakaraXX**

**Moonlight Calls**

**Vanessa123**

**KishinHunter15**

**Ravenclaw Slytherin**

**Crystal-Wolf-Guardian-967**

**LadyFelton1994**

Also thanks to everyone else who added this their favourites/alerts! :D

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	20. Chapter 20: Anmi's Side of the Story

Noticing Aria was no longer walking beside him, Kouga turned around to see why she'd stopped. His eyes widened however when he saw a hooded figure dressed in black grasping Aria's wrist tightly. Aria was too shocked to think of what to do in the situation, but before she could do anything, she felt herself being yanked out of the stranger's grasp. Kouga then stood in between her and the stranger with one arm wrapped around her protectively, keeping her tightly in his hold but also preventing the stranger from getting any closer to her.

"What do you want? Who are you?" Kouga almost growled at the dark figure.

The figure tilted his head to the side, supposedly observing Kouga, before ignoring the wolf-demon and addressing Aria, "What a long distance you have come! I'm surprised... do you feel no sorrow at other's deaths?" The voice was clearly feminine but did not sound friendly.

Aria swallowed at the woman's words, realising that she must have known her from some other village.

The woman continued, "Hmm... maybe you do feel _some_ sadness... guilt even. It's hard to tell in those strange coloured eyes of yours."

Kouga asked again, irritated that he had been ignored, "Who are you?"

The woman complied and pulled the hood away from her face, "Really, you demons are so pushy and demanding!"

Silver eyes grew as they recognised the woman dressed in black. Black hair tumbled out of the hood and hazel eyes fixed on Kouga's as she stepped closer.

"Aria can tell you who I am," the woman said calmly, flicking a glance at the girl.

Aria wrestled herself out of Kouga's clutches and stumbled towards the woman, "Anmi? I thought you'd died!"

The woman named Anmi grimaced, "No but I nearly did. But what about you? Did you flee as soon as the village was attacked, or did you call all those demons to feast on our village?"

Aria straightened up defensively. "I did no such thing! I was being lectured by Prophet Tsuka in the valley, for wandering out of the village! When we came back..." she trailed off, her face twisting into a tortured expression as she envisioned the bloodied corpses that littered the ground, and the fresh crimson that stained the wooden walls of the village she'd lived in. "-You know what I saw when I got back." Aria's voice lost its strength quickly, turing slowly into a bitter tone, "Prophet Tsuka drove me away after that, I had no time to see if anyone was left alive... I didn't think anyone would be. I'm sorry I should've stayed."

Kouga was futiley trying to follow their conversation. He vaguely understood the situation might have been something similar to the destroyed village he'd found Aria in, but not knowing who 'Prophet Tsuka' was made things a bit difficult.

The woman, Anmi however had a pained expression. The two girls stood in silence before Anmi lunged at Kouga, grabbed him and jumped with incredible power into the trees. Taken by surprise, Kouga couldn't do anything about his kidnapping until they reached a small clearing in the trees, where he kneed the woman in the side, causing her to release him. As Anmi gasped for the air that had been knocked out of her, Kouga loomed above her.

"Actually - I know it wasn't Aria's fault our village was attacked," Anmi said almost guitily. "In fact I was asked to make you both feel upset. However I need to tell you something important that I don't want Aria to hear, before I'm killed. I'm not going to repeat any of this again, nor will I receive the chance, as I said, I don't have much time."

Kouga raised an eyebrow at the woman when she continued, "Aria and I both lived in the village of the Prophet; that's the place where the human-demons or as the Prophets called them, 'Fiera' are born and are raised. Aria was born into one of the few noble families of our village and I lived as a commoner. Although when I was thirteen and Aria was six years old, we had become something like sisters in the years we'd spent together as friends, despite our age and background differences. I already knew that there were rumours that Aria was the evil Fiera and that Takeo, her twin brother, was the good Fiera. On the night that the head prophet of our village, Prophet Tsuka, had a vision of which of the two twins were good and evil, Aria was suddenly estranged from the village. She couldn't go out of the house because the villagers would throw rocks or at times knives at her.

"Takeo never left her side though, and the villagers loved him all the more, seeing his 'benevolence' towards his sister as a sign of his status as the good Fiera. However I also didn't leave her side, and Takeo was not as friendly as he appeared. Though he said it with a smile, he would 'remind' her that she was filth, pure evil. I'm sure you've been with Aria long enough! There's hardly a single evil bone in her body. Prophet Tsuka also saw this, and was confused by his previous vision. Takeo gradually became crueller, taking advantage of his kind pretense. And as you might already know, Aria just accepts it as her fate."

Kouga nodded, remembering the many times she'd tried to run away for fear of hurting anyone.

Anmi continued speaking, hurriedly, afraid that her end was near, "Anyway! In the same year that we were told that Aria was the evil Fiera, there was an attack on the village of the Prophet. Prophet Tsuka had gone after Aria, after she had escaped the village, scared of herself and being evil, I think Takeo had told her something. While they were out, a mass of demons appeared out of nowhere that outnumbered our villagers ten to one. It was -"

Her voice was slightly shaking by this point. "- horrific to say the least. What was worse was that there was a child that looked just like Aria leading the demons. I watched as she sent demons to every corner of the village, leaving none alive. In a moment of desperation, I picked up the knife out of my dead father's hands, the one he'd used to protect himself and his family with, and I rushed at her, intending to enact my revenge. I got close enough to kill her when I had a moment of doubt. I was right to have doubt, but all too late. Just as the Aria-look alike had taken the knife from me and plunged it into my stomach, I noticed her eyes flick from the colour silver to black. It wasn't Aria at all. But despite the fact it wasn't Aria, I still felt betrayed that she'd runaway, and I felt like she had something to do with the attack.

"Later Takeo and Prophet Tsuka found me, and nursed me back to health. Takeo left us to our own devices after that. It was only until years later when Prophet Tsuka was on his deathbed, that he told me that his vision was wrong."

"Wait you mean that-?" Kouga asked.

Anmi nodded, "Yes, Prophet Tsuka had another vision before he died. Aria was supposed to be the good Fiera. The vision he'd seen earlier, was of the Aria-look alike attacking the city, not the real Aria."

"If Aria's good, then why were you told to make her suffer?" Kouga asked warily.

Anmi's face fell, "Before Prophet Tsuka died, I still thought that Aria was my enemy, so I made a deal with a man named Naraku who'd help me get my revenge on Aria. In return for his help, he has my heart... not as in love but my literal heart. When Prophet Tsuka told me that Aria wasn't my enemy, I didn't know what to do. Now Takeo's in league with Naraku, and has been for a few months now. You musn't tell Aria any of this!"

Before Kouga could ask why, she kept going, speaking more panickedly, "Let her find out by herself. It would crush her to realise that all of those villages she'd taken refuge in could have been saved if she had used her power. Also I know her, she wouldn't be the same if you just dumped that on - ugh!"

Anmi gasped and sunk to her knees. When Kouga took a step towards her she gasped, "Run! Naraku put one of those jewel shards in me! Run now and take Aria with you!"

The woman curled into a tight ball, panting as she fought the shard within her, urging her to kill. As she felt herself losing she prayed desperately, _God, please don't let Aria see me like this. Let her be safe._

Kouga only just caught sight of Aria with Inuyasha and the others, when screams resounded behind him, and the music from the festivities immediately came to a halt.

* * *

**_A/N:_ HEY THERE! So just for those interested, Fiera is a spanish word that means 'beast' which is similar to demon :P I kinda got the idea from the 'Good witch' in the Wizard of Oz. I like how you can put 'good' in front of a negative word so I did this with 'Good Fiera'! So technically as I see it, it's the "Good Demon'.**

Thanks to:

**XXTakaraXX**

**Moonlight Calls**

**Moongirl12121 x2 **_(I'm so sorry I left you out last chapter! I thought I did I swear!)_

**o0CrimsonsDragon0o**

**rosedragon876**

**Vanessa123**

**Crystal-Wolf-Guardian-967**

Also thanks to everyone else who added this their favourites/alerts! :D

**Now for the rest of you who hasn't reveiwed, you can review ANONYMOUSLY Y'KNOW?... REVIEW!REVIEW!REVIEW!**

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	21. Chapter 21: Moonlight

_Kouga only just caught sight of Aria with Inuyasha and the others, when screams resounded behind him, and the music from the festivities immediately came to a halt._

Inuyasha, searching for the source of everyone's panic, growled upon smelling something foul, "Naraku."

Kouga clenched his jaw, wanting to slaughter Naraku but needing to get Aria away from the festivities. He needed to clear his mind as well, not being able to focus with all the new information he'd been told.

"We need to go. NOW!" Kouga barked at the others, making his way through the crowd.

"I'm not goin' anywhere! Naraku's here dumbass!" Inuyasha yelled at him, not understanding why the mangy wolf wasn't excited about engaging in a fight with their mutual enemy.

Kouga stopped frozen where he stood, not knowing whether or not to go or stay. He wasn't able to make the decision however when he felt a small hand grab the sleeve of his yukata and pull him down to the ground. Sitting on the ground, he was met with a pair of concerned silver eyes as Aria grabbed the front of his yukata with her good arm, pulling him closer to better interrogate him. Aria looked down at the demon she'd brought down, searching his eyes for the cause of his distress and asked, "What's wrong? Where's Anmi?"

Kouga grimaced, "She told us to leave. And that's just what I intend to do!"

She could tell he wasn't telling her something, but she left it alone. She released Kouga and stood up to face the others, "Well what do you think we should do?"

They didn't get to answer her as a towering figure appeared amongst the screaming crowd. The figure was shrouded in darkness, its limbs thin and skeletal, almost looking like a person whose body had been stretched out. Its eyes glowed with an animalistic fury and its hair floated around its head as if it were underwater, moving in an invisible swirl of liquid. Its face was too dark to recognise any facial features, but Kouga recognised the scent.

Before they could react, the monster fixed its murderous gaze on them and ran at them with incredible speed. The creature raised a long arm and swatted them away as if they were nothing more than leaves on the ground. Inuyasha and Kouga were the first to recover, Aria, Miroku and Sango still taking time to get back the air that had been knocked out of their lungs.

Inuyasha was the first to run headlong at the beast, that was until Kouga slammed into him, stopping him from attacking.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Inuyasha screamed.

"She's being controlled by Naraku!" Kouga argued back, wrestling with the half-demon.

"She? That thing is a _she_? You know what, forget that - You know who that is?" Inuyasha yelled, pointing at the monster.

The monster let out a blood-curdling shriek, the kind that grated the inside of your ears, chilled you to the core and made your stomach turn. It loomed over the group and stared at each of them, until its eyes settled on Aria.

_Kill her!_ a voice urged the monster.

The monster began to reach out to grab the girl, when it froze. The others watched as the monster clutched its head and shrieked some more. It clawed its scalp and its shrieks began to sound like distinguishable words.

"NO!" was the first word that they could manage to hear through its screams. "I CAN'T!"

Aria recognised the voice, "Anmi...?" she whispered, beginning to recognise the face of her friend in the monster.

Anmi, hearing her name stopped shrieking and stared horrified at Aria. She looked at her long and feral hands in shock before running away from them, disappearing into the forest.

There was a still silence as they saw Anmi leave their sight.

* * *

The walk home was awkwardly silent, Sango, Miroku and Inuyasha not knowing what to do. Aria was walking in front of them, expressionless and refusing to talk to Kouga, who was walking at a glacial pace behind them. The three knew that Aria and Kouga both knew the monster that had briefly attacked them, then fled, but why it made Aria angry at Kouga was beyond them. What was more, Kouga refused to tell them what was going on until Aria wasn't around... which made Aria even angrier.

Kouga had been struggling to not tell Aria the truth, it didn't feel fair to her. But he knew that Anmi had a point, Aria would either take the news very well or extremely badly. He couldn't risk Aria taking a turn for the worse, only a few weeks ago she'd nearly killed herself fighting Takeo about as calmly as if she were doing the cleaning. If she knew she could have saved goodness-knows-how-many people from Takeo's wrath, then she would probably go as far as to willingly end her life to atone for her 'sins'. He knew that she must have angry at him for not telling her anything, seeing as he was the last person to talk to Anmi before she transformed into a monster, he couldn't tell her the details of their conversation.

Aria was furious with herself. What was worse was that she nearly took out her self-loathing on the others. How could she have not seen her friend's pain before it was too late? The image of her friend's beastly form, and Anmi's expression of horror and sadness would not leave her mind. At first she wondered if Kouga had something to do with Anmi's appearance, but then hated herself even more for thinking that way about him. After everything he'd done for her, letting her stay with him, taking care of Chise, protecting her... and the list that was still growing, she'd doubted him, even if it was only for a moment. She suspected that Kouga had noticed her lack of faith in him, as he wasn't talking to her, even making a point of it by announcing that he wouldn't tell the others anything about the incident until she'd left. Now whenever she looked at him, she felt stabbing guilt.

"Aria...?" Sango ventured to ask. She flinched as the girl turned to face her abruptly.

"Can we walk a little faster?" Aria asked, more sharply than she'd intended.

Kouga flinched at her cold tone of voice.

"Uh- okay! N-No problem!" Sango attempted to say cheerfully.

When Aria had begun to continue walking ahead, Miroku slowed down his pace to fall in line with Kouga, who didn't notice until the monk cleared his throat.

"You need to apologise for whatever you did," Miroku said softly, so as not to let Aria hear their conversation.

"I can't!" Kouga said in harsh undertones.

"Why not?" Miroku questioned further.

Kouga frowned hard at the ground he walked on, "I don't want to hurt her..."

Miroku raised his eyebrows, "And how does apologising hurt someone?"

"It doesn't matter!" he growled.

Miroku grinned, "Ah but it clearly does! You clearly like her."

"What the fuck are you talking about?"

The monk's grin turned mischevious, "Surely you must have noticed the way she looks at you, her enchanting eyes, her small but delightfully curved b-"

"Shut up!" Kouga shouted and shot forward, picking up Aria and taking her with him. Inuyasha and Sango turned to face Miroku, "What did you say to him?"

Miroku shrugged before mumbling, "I was only going to say 'body'."

Kouga stopped just before he reached the village where Chise waited with Kagome. Aria was stunned, both surprised by the spontaneous-ness of Kouga's behaviour and confused by his actions... she was sure he was mad at her. He gently put her down, worried that she'd be mad at him for taking her so abruptly.

They stood staring at the village ahead of them quietly, neither knowing how to start a conversation in the tense atmosphere.

"So..." Kouga began, breaking the silence.

"I- I apologise for my ungrateful nature," Aria said bluntly, avoiding his gaze.

Silence took hold again, Kouga now confused and Aria now believing that Kouga was definitely annoyed with her.

"Are you kidding?" Kouga asked, unable to comprehend why she thought _she _should apologise.

Aria immediately took his question as a sign of his frustration, "No! I am truly sorry! I shouldn't have - you know - thought you'd done something to Anmi. I know it couldn't possibly be your fault which is why I'm sorry!"

Kouga groaned irritatedly and brought his hand to his forehead, letting his fingers thread through his hair. He should've known she'd try to somehow make this whole ordeal her fault, this was exactly why he couldn't tell her she was the good Fiera. Aria watched Kouga's reaction with watering eyes. She hated herself for making him feel terrible. Kouga, smelling the saltwater, snapped his attention on her, seeing tears about to spill from her eyes.

He stepped forward and held her, wrapping her in a tight embrace. Relieved that she hadn't pushed him away from her, Kouga brought his head down closer to hers, her unusual scent filling his senses. He'd never really paid attention to it, but if he could describe her scent in words, he'd have said that it was like a fresh morning after a night of rain; nothing else quite matching her scent as those words. He was more aware now of how small she really was, being half a head shorter than his shoulders. Becoming aware of the length of time he'd been holding her, he stood back, not quite releasing her but moving his hands to her shoulders. The tears had vanished from her eyes, now more surprised than anything else.

"I wasn't angry with you at all. I thought you'd be angry at me for not telling you what Anmi and I talked about," he said sheepishly.

"But-?" Aria wasn't sure how to begin or finish that sentence, befuddled with her emotions.

"Are you angry at me?" Kouga asked warily.

Aria shook her head, silently beside herself with happiness that he had forgiven her... or rather was never really mad at her. As her mouth pulled into a small smile, Kouga stared at the girl in front of him. The moon made her pale skin glow in its light, and her silver eyes seemed to give off a light of it's own. Her hair, fallen out of its place since Kouga had run away with her, fell around her face and gently over her shoulders, reflecting the moon's light off it, glittering like it was water. Compared to all of the times he may have seen her as beautiful, they paled against the way she looked at that moment.

Unable to resist himself, Kouga lightly brushed a few strands of hair away from her face, leaned forward and touched her forehead with his lips. He lingered there for a couple seconds before turning away.

"I'm going to find Ginta and Hakkaku... say goodnight to Chise for me," he said nonchalantly.

He didn't get far before a small rock flew into the back of his head.

"Don't do weird things without permission!" Aria shouted as she briskly walked past him towards the village, hoping he didn't see her blushing brightly as she passed him.

* * *

**_A/N:_ Naww! I love Kouga! Poor Anmi... **

**On another note, I must say I'm a little confused. Last week this story got added to the 'Worst Inuyasha Fanfics Around' community (which made me upset for a bit) and then it got added to 'Best Kouga FanFics' two days later... which immediately made me very confused. I will admit my first few chapters are sloppy. It's mostly because I originally thought up this story, starting from the Flower Field scene and I wanted to get to that part of the story quickly as possible before I forgot. But still... . I don't know what to think! Maybe I'll fix up the first few chappies later. But don't worry! The plot line won't change in the least :D**

Thanks to:

**XXTakaraXX**

**Moonlight Calls**

**Moongirl12121**

**Vanessa123**

**Crystal-Wolf-Guardian-967**

Also thanks to everyone else who added this their favourites/alerts! :D

**Now for the rest of you who hasn't reveiwed, you can review ANONYMOUSLY Y'KNOW?... REVIEW!REVIEW!REVIEW!**

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	22. Chapter 22: Permanent Marker

Crickets were chirping when Aria awoke, singing brightly for the morning sun. She noticed a bundle beside her and realised her fur dress that Kouga's pack had given her had finally been cleaned and mended. Slipping the soft leathery dress on, she walked out of the hut she was staying in, to find the others. Upon stepping outside, two small children immediately barrelled into her, sending her backwards.

"Get back here you two!" shouted one angry sounding Kouga.

Both children, Shippo and Chise, stuck their tongues out at him and took refuge behind Aria, who was too busy giggling at what they had done to ignite the wolf-demon's fury. His armour and more amusingly, his face had been drawn on with some kind of dye that the children must gotten their hands on.

Through her laughing, Aria managed to say, "Now kids - was that a kind thing to do?"

Chise looked up at her mother innocently and said, "Shippo said father would find it funny."

"Does this look like the face of laughter?" Kouga yelled pointing at his face which was decorated in rainbows and various (mostly pink) flowers.

Aria bit her lip to stop herself from laughing and fixed her gaze on Shippo, "Really? Did you really think you'd get away with that?"

Shippo pouted slightly, "We were just having fun!"

"No more drawing on irritable wolf-demons, okay? Now run off and play something _by yourselves,_" Aria scolded them, pushing them gently on their way.

"What? That's it?" cried Kouga, clearly upset they hadn't gotten punished quite the way he wanted.

Aria stood up, "They're still only kids Kouga. You can't bully them or they'll get hurt." Kouga scowled, which in Aria's view looked rather hilarious, what with all the rainbows and flowers. "Here," she said, pulling him closer to the river nearby, taking a cloth as they passed. Once they reached the water, she wet the rag and began cleaning off the children's mess. The drawings weren't coming off, but it seemed wiser for her to not say anything.

She wondered if the drawings had been enchanted somehow, to not clean off of skin before Kagome appeared, panting slightly, "Have either of you two seen Shippo and Chise? They stole my permanent markers!"

Aria pointed at Kouga's face, "Is this your 'permanent marker'?" she asked, not quite knowing what permanent markers were.

Kagome stared blankly at Kouga's flower coated face before trying to contain her giggles, "Oh - I see..."

Kouga glared at the miko, "Did you say permanent?"

Kagome burst out laughing as Aria tried to hold Kouga back from slaughtering two certain children. "Don't worry! I've got something that'll help in my bag!" Kagome reassured the demon, indicating for him to follow.

Upon the three of them entering Kaede's hut, Kagome's markers had reappeared, sittingly neatly and oh-so-inconspicuously to the side of the room. Kagome started cleaning the marker off of Kouga's face and armour with a liquid that made him dizzy from the chemicals, while Aria observed the so-called 'permanent markers'.

"Don't seem so embarrassed, Shippo did this to Inuyasha a few weeks ago as well," Kagome said cheerily, wiping off the last flower from Kouga's face.

Aria chuckled slightly, "Maybe children just know a moron when they see one."

Kouga turned his head to glare at her with an eye before he saw the permanent marker in her hands. Using his demonic speed, he leapt forward and seized a marker, drawing a bright blue line across Aria's face, just under her nose, making it look like a thin blue moustache.

Kouga's smirk widened and he grabbed more markers, running around Aria so quickly she couldn't stop him. As Kouga circled her, he drew more on her face until she appeared to be wearing a multi-coloured mask. However his joy turned into an expression of horror as she tripped him over with a foot. Touching the lines of ink on her face, Aria's face turned dark and she laughed almost evilly, "Oh, so you think you can get away with that?"

"Hey!" Kouga protested futiley. Aria turned and grabbed Kaede's large cooking pot that was hanging over the unlit fireplace in the room, then hurled it at him. There was a satisfying clang of metal as it connected with the wolf demon's skull.

"Now we're even," Aria said grinning.

Kagome just sat there, watching with wide eyes, also worried that the short silver-eyed girl had possibly murdered Kouga.

* * *

**_A/N:_ So as you may have noticed, the chapter was shorter than its predecessors. This is because in order to get the story moving, while still getting these filler-ish fun things in, _as well as_ keeping me writing quickly, I've decided to make my chapters more drabble-y. I hope there's no problems with this change! :)**

**Moongirl12121 :: Did Kaede's cooking pot count? ;P**

Thanks to:

**XXTakaraXX**

**o0CrimsonsDragon0o**

**Moongirl12121**

**Vanessa123**

**Crystal-Wolf-Guardian-967**

Also thanks to everyone else who added this their favourites/alerts! :D

**Now for the rest of you who hasn't reveiwed, you can review ANONYMOUSLY Y'KNOW?... REVIEW!REVIEW!REVIEW!**

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	23. Chapter 23: Futuristic Music Box

Aria stared at the strange instrument Shippo had told her was Kagome's. It was a small, flat, black, box-ish thing, made out of a strange material that the silver eyed girl had never seen before and had strange markings all over its surface. Shippo had said it made all sorts of music by itself. Cautiously, she poked it, urging it to play by itself and reveal its secrets. When nothing happened, she sighed.

Shippo noticed her confusion with the object and walked over to help her, "Here, this is how it works."

Picking up the two white string-things that came out of the strange flat, palm-sized box, he put a string in each ear and instructed Aria on how to work the odd music box.

"Here you press this-" Shippo said as Aria's eyes widened in fascination as one side of the box glowed, showing a bunch of strange square symbols.

"Is that sunlight trapped in the box?" she asked, tapping the box that had lit up from the press of a button.

Shippo shrugged, "I don't know how it works... apparently it's normal in Kagome's place. Anyways-" He continued to instruct her until her left her alone with the device.

Tenatively, she placed the odd strings in her ears and pressed the buttons Shippo had told her to. She jumped a little as music burst into her ears. She'd never heard such music before, but she enjoyed the mystery of the odd music box, marvelling at the strange melodies and sounds, while pondering where on earth they could find people small enough to sing through the strings. She looked at the box and like Shippo had said, the writing on its surface changed according to what song was played. It soon came to her realisation, that no-one else could hear the music she was listening to which both amazed her and made her feel very aware of how she must have looked to others.

She moved off to a more secluded place where she could gaze in awe at the strange new toy of Kagome's without being viewed as someone who'd lost their mind. There were some songs she cared very little for, but others that urged her to move along with the music, ones that suddenly made the world seem so much brighter and colourful. Once she found her hands and feet moving without her permission, she found it hard to stop. For ages, she danced along with the foreign tunes, revelling in the music.

* * *

Meanwhile,

Kouga had used Aria's absence to his advantage, using his time to tell the others about her true identity. Though they found it surprising at first, they too had previously had their doubts about the 'evilness' inside Aria, making it easier for them to accept this new truth.

"So what do we do now?" Sango asked.

Kouga grimaced, "We don't tell her a thing, until she works it out herself."

Kagome frowned, "But we can't just-"

"We _have _to! Just trust me on this... Let her find out by herself... Ginta, Hakkaku!" called the wolf prince, demanding his pack's attention. As soon as the two wolf demons were by his side, he ordered them, "I need you two to go back to the den. You two need to make the pack aware of what's going on and make sure they understand that they need to protect Aria and Chise if the need arises. Aria, Chise and I will stay here and travel with these guys and come back to the den later. Kagome and I are going to try and see if we can get Aria to train her powers a bit more, so we're prepared for Takeo when the time comes."

Ginta and Hakkaku nodded their understanding.

"Say goodbye to Chise for us!" they called before they sped out of the hut and out of sight.

When they were all dismissed Kagome sighed, "I guess I should go get my iPod back from Aria before anyone else sees it. There'd be a problem if it got stolen or lost, I don't know what'd happen if someone from the future found an iPod from five hundred years ago," she noted, realising the girl was nowhere in sight.

"If it's that important, I'll find her and get it back straight away, don't you worry," Kouga said before heading off, following the trail of her soft scent.

He made it into a small clearing just inside the forest, when he saw Aria spinning around, seemingly dancing without music. Her eyes were closed, without a care in the world as she twirled about the forest clearing. Grinning to himself, he crept up slowly behind her, making sure she didn't notice his presence as he inched closer. When he was right behind her, just about to say something to her, she spun around, slamming straight into his armour and falling onto the forest floor with a pained "Oof!". She groaned and rubbed her forehead, slowly sitting up. Kouga knelt beside her as she pulled the odd white strings out of her ears.

"What is it you dumbass?" she groaned, rubbing her very sore forhead.

The wolf demon raised an eyebrow at her, "What were you doing just now?"

Her face went a little pink at being caught dancing alone but she tossed Kagome's iPod at him, "Listening to Kagome's music box."

Dark eyebrows furrowed over blue eyes as he stared at the music box, or iPod as Kagome had called it. "I didn't hear any music," Kouga said questioningly.

Aria seemed to lighten up a bit more, "I know isn't it mysterious! You can only hear the music through those little white string-things and there are so many songs! Here listen, this one's my favourite!"

And before Kouga could turn down her offer, she was placing the white strings in his ears, surprising him with her sudden close proximity. Aria paused a little when she realised how close their faces were and a light blush covered her cheeks. In an attempt to hide her blush, she quickly moved away from him and played the music. She smiled as she watched Kouga's expression as the music filled his ears.

Hearing Chise calling her Aria stood up and silently left, leaving Kouga to marvel at Kagome's music box. Upon finding Chise with Shippo and Kagome, the miko came up to the silver eyed Fiera, "Aria! Do you still have my iPod?"

Aria tilted her head slightly, "Is an 'iPod' that your little music box?"

Kagome nodded.

"Oh! Kouga's listening to it!" Aria said smiling, before two little children pulled her away to play with them.

Kagome muttered, "'Get it back straight away', huh Kouga?"

* * *

**_A/N:_ Hehe mild fluff! Sorry this one was kind of a filler one but mid-year exams are coming up for me so updates may not be quite as plot-orientated as I'd want them to be! Apologies for any inconvenience!**

Thanks to:

**XXTakaraXX**

**VeryaTirananniel**

**Moongirl12121**

**Vanessa123**

**bleachXonepieceXfangurlX1025**

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	24. Chapter 24: On the Road Again

They had spent a mere four hours travelling back to Kouga's den, and already the children - plus Inuyasha - were complaining about a need to eat. The children were easy to satisfy, Kagome coming in handy with a bag of what she called 'lollipops', however one half-demon could not be silenced so easily.

"I don't want no friggin' candy!" he shouted at Kagome.

"Well that's all you're getting until we stop for dinner! Deal with it!" the miko shouted back, stuffing the bag of lollipops in her yellow backpack forcefully.

Aria giggled from behind, watching their bantering with amusement. Further along the large hill they were walking up, Kouga was silently leading the group as they travelled. She had noticed for a while that he had been troubled by something since the incident with Anmi. She wondered if Anmi had told him something about her, something about her being the evil being she was... It hurt, but she couldn't blame him if he felt that way.

In fact it was strange he hadn't hated her from the start. Although, he _did_ try to kill her at first sight... but then again he'd thought she was responsible for attacking his comrades, so that didn't count, that was a misunderstanding. They'd had a rough relationship at first because of that, but otherwise, Aria could only see that Kouga had been kind to her in his own way. He'd even kissed her on the forehead, and goodness knows how many times that moment had replayed in her mind. She sighed softly to herself, fiddling with her braided hair as she tried to work out why he'd done that. Was it something he did to say goodnight to his pack? Maybe it was just a demon thing... or was it?

She huffed in frustration as her thoughts began to go in circles, not really resolving themselves. In an attempt to distract herself, she decided to play with the children to alleviate their boredom as well.

Kouga meanwhile, was busy contemplating how the heck they were supposed to help train Aria's power. No-one knew how it really worked, neither did they know how much damage it did to the girl every time she used it. Twice she'd been unconscious for days because of her powers, and none of them, especially Chise and himself, really wanted to go through those experiences again.

The wolf demon wished that he'd been able to get more out of that Anmi girl but it seemed it was highly unlikely they'd be able to meet again under such loose circumstances.

To make matters worse, Ginta and Hakkaku had been constantly asking who was going to be his woman now. Apparently the current possibilities had risen to three, Ayame, Kagome and Aria. He knew he felt something for the short, silver-eyed girl, but he'd also promised Ayame and declared Kagome as 'his'. He groaned, wondering what rumours the two mischevious underlings of his were spreading around the tribe at that very moment.

He was too deep in thought to hear the multitudes of snickering behind him as a group of three snuck up behind him. He was too late to notice however as a loud, "GET HIM!" rang in his ears.

Shippo, Chise and Aria tackled the demon unawares, throwing him off balance. The laughing soon turned into screams as Kouga fell, taking the three with him as they tumbled down the steep hill. They rolled for what seemed like ages until they came to a low halt, the four piled in an awkward heap at the base of the hill. It took them a few moments to clear their dizziness before they started laughing.

"Are you all okay?" called Sango from the top.

"All good!" Shippo called back, helping Chise to her feet.

Aria laughed a little before Kouga was in front of her offering his hand to help her off the ground. Her laugh turning into a shy smile, she took his hand and was lifted to her feet.

"Thank-you," she murmured before attempting to climb the hill. Shippo had already transformed into a large pink floating thing, carrying Chise with him.

Aria didn't get far when Kouga picked her up and ran up the slope impossibly fast. She wondered if Kouga heard her heart perform a little flop in her chest with his demonic hearing, due to the way he carried her bridal-style. If he did, he seemed to ignore it as he slowed and put her back on the ground when they reached the others. Kouga continued walking silently, without saying a word.

Both Sango and Kagome noticed the silver-eyed girl's disappointment as the dense demon continued his journey. They knew Kouga was having difficulty dealing with keeping Aria's true identity from her, but they could see that Aria hated him looking so worried all the time. They nodded at each other, deciding to take matters into their own hands. Well not entirely, but they'd definitely give her a little shove in the right direction.

* * *

**_A/N:_ Hehe! Everyone seems to be pushing those two together now *grins*. Hehehehe...**

**On another note...**

**WHERE IS THE LOVE GUYS? I only got four reviews and it made me sad! Was it the lack of plot line? Well _excuse_ me if I'm trying to pass my mid-years! Review darn you! *shakes fist***

With thanks to the lovely people who bothered to review... unlike some people *glares*:

**XXTakaraXX **(I think I PM'd you earlier? If not, my answer is I think I'm roughly half-way, but I'm the kind of author who has a vague idea of where the story ends but the story seems to write itself... so currently I don't know what's going to happen myself XD)

**Moonlight Calls**

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	25. Chapter 25: In the Dark

Dark eyes glared down at the crumpled figure of a woman. The owner of the dark eyes, bent down towards the woman, his light blue hair falling like a curtain around his crouching figure.

"Anmi," drawled the blue-haired man. "You brought this on yourself you know?"

The woman, Anmi, glared up at him from where she lay.

"I hope you rot in hell you sick bastard," she growled, her voice hoarse.

The man clucked his tongue sadly, "And after all these years we've known each other, you still can't trust me?"

Anmi pushed herself up slowly, her body bruised and beaten by Naraku's demons. When she was on her hands and knees, she set her hazel eyes on his, a fierce glare sent out at him. "As if I could trust _you_, Takeo! After all, you're made of lies, cruelty and worse. Look at you, you're so worried that your facade is going to break, and that Aria will find out the truth," Anmi spat.

Takeo grabbed her hair and pulled the woman up to her feet by it, leering into her face.

"What did you tell that mongrel?" he growled.

Anmi smirked. It was rare to see Takeo shaken by someone else's actions and marvelled that she had done it by doing something so simple.

"Everything," she said back defiantly. She found herself hurtling through the air at an impossible speed, being flung to the side by the evil Fiera. She hit the wall with a sickening crack and fell to the ground, coughing up blood. She flinched a little as Takeo appeared in front of her.

Takeo scowled down at Anmi, before plunging his hand through her back, searching for the shard Naraku had placed inside of her. Anmi screamed in agony as she felt his hand go through her, breaking ribs and slicing through her flesh like a sword. When he pulled out the shard, he wiped Anmi's blood off his hands using her clothes smirking as her life blood seeped out of the hole he'd created. She was beginning to lose her consciousness when she heard Takeo speak to her as her vision blurred.

"As much as I enjoyed our time together Anmi, past and present, I'm afraid you are completely useless to me now. Thank you for your help," Takeo said in a conversational tone as he used his powers to fling the dying Anmi out the window.

* * *

**_A/N:_ HOLY CRAP WHAT DID I JUST WRITE? OMG Takeo you sick bastard! On a less gruesome note, my exams are finally over so I can update more! YAY!**

Anyway thanks to the following who reviewed:

**XXTakaraXX **

**bleachXonepieceXfangurlX1025**

**ProtectoraofmiLuna**

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**FEEEED MY ADDDICCTTIOON  
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	26. Chapter 26: Digging Holes

The air was cool that night where they rested. A large fire was built to ward off the chill as they rested. Aria was lying down with Chise curled up in her arms, a little closer to the campfire than everyone else was. She'd felt colder since midday, like something was wrong. She tightened her embrace around Chise, worrying about what was unnerving her. She flicked a glance at the others, Kagome sleeping with Shippo, much like she was, Miroku and Sango were sleeping opposite each other across the fire, Sango had insisted on this, Ginta and Hakkaku, not having their own blanket were sleeping close to the fire. Then she noticed Inuyasha sitting upright, and she wondered what horrible things it did to one's back when you slept sitting up, until she noticed his breathing was a bit too quick for someone asleep. Aria wondered if Kagome had the same problems of getting Inuyasha some sleep as she did with Kouga.

That was where her eyes wandered to next, the form of Kouga standing up by a large tree, his bright blue eyes rapidly scanning their surroundings continuously. Aria rolled her eyes, how was it that he still didn't understand that she wanted him to get some sleep? Slowly shifting herself out of the blanket so as not to wake up Chise, she stood up and walked over to the demon.

Kouga noticed that Aria had woken, and was heading towards him, but he continued making sure that there were no enemies around. When Aria was standing beside him, she lifted a hand and whacked him on the back of the head... _hard_.

"What was that for?" Kouga hissed, keeping his voice down so he didn't wake up the others.

Silver eyes glared at him, "Why aren't you asleep as well?"

"Demons don't need to sleep as much as humans do, I'm sure I've told you that before," he retorted, rubbing the back of his sore head.

"Well, fine, but you _do_ realise that you don't have to keep putting the burdens on yourself, right?" she asked quietly.

Kouga turned to meet her gaze, "I could say the same for you." When Aria only looked confused, he explained, "You keep - trying to make everything your problem... Take the incident with Anmi-"

"But I-"

"No, you didn't do _anything_ wrong. You just thought it was somehow your fault because you're that 'bad' demon," Kouga stopped her.

Aria huffed, "Well if I'm the harbringer of all evil, then surely I did somewhere along the line cause Anmi to fall into Naraku's clutches! I'm still confused why you let me hang around since all this stuff has suddenly been dumped on you, making more trouble for you when you should just cast out the evil in your life, otherwise known as me!"

Kouga's eyes narrowed, "If you were so evil, you would selfishly _want_ to stay wouldn't you? After all, I'm a demon, shouldn't two evils stick together? What about Chise? Is she evil because she's a demon?"

Aria flinched and Kouga saw her eyes flick towards Chise before she avoided his gaze completely.

Her voice was quiet and barely audible when she spoke, "I don't think either of you are evil... don't talk like that."

She was caught off guard when he hugged her tightly. She heard his voice loud in her ear, "And neither of us think you're evil, so don't talk like that either."

She was glad Kouga was still hugging her so that he didn't see her blushing. Kouga was somewhat lost in her scent, forgetting the length of time he'd held her in his arms. It was only when he felt her shuffle in his grip did he let go, wondering how long they'd stayed like that.

"Now get back to bed," he told her, lightly pushing her back towards Chise.

She turned around and smiled a little, "And make sure you rest as well. Goodnight."

The two went back to their respective places, each with a blush covering their cheeks, completely unaware of the three other onlookers who had watched and heard their entire conversation.

* * *

The next day, Kagome had been constantly asking if there was a hotspring anywhere, annoying Inuyasha to no end.

"Why the fuck must you keep yourself so damn clean?" shouted Inuyasha, frustrated by the absurd number of times they'd had to stop to let the miko clean herself. Sure he figured it was a custom in the future, but they weren't in the future were they?

"Because I _want _to! I can't stand being covered in so much filth for so long! Besides, I think us girls could use a break," argued Kagome, sending a knowing glance at Sango, who smiled and looked away, pretending to not know anything. Both girls had been woken up last night to the sound of a certain wolf-demon and silver eyed girl arguing, only to realise that they were eaves-dropping on a rather - _interesting_ - conversation.

Inuyasha growled, "There's one up ahead, if you _must_ know."

Again both girls nodded at each other, ready to interrogate Aria on last night's events. The girl in question, was currently ahead of the entire group, chasing two little demon children. Once she caught a giggling child, she'd pick them up and spin them around, making them dizzy before she chased them again. However, though the children were amused, they missed the blatant way Aria kept her back to the others. She was riddled with confusion and unable to sort out her own emotions, so she was using the children as a distraction.

Once Inuyasha told Kagome and Sango that they were at the hot spring, they had kidnapped Aria and made their way to the springs, children in tow.

"Hey, why do _you_ always get to go to the hot springs first?" Inuyasha interrogated, pointing at the girls. Kagome let go of Aria and turned to the hanyou with a murderous glint in her eyes.

Her voice however was dripping with false sweetness, "Why Inuyasha! Weren't _you_ the one who didn't want us to go to the hot springs in the first place? Besides, Sango and I want to - _get to know_ Aria a bit better. Now why don't you wait here with the other guys and make sure Miroku doesn't get any ideas?"

"Hey! - No wait... she's right" mIroku said dejectedly, knowing that Sango would slap him to China if he peeked again.

"Keh! Like I care. C'mon guys, let's go!" Inuyasha said, pushing past the girls. The other guys just stood back, not wanting to face Kagome's wrath. Everyone watched in horror as Kagome 'sat' the hanyou into his own Inuyasha-shaped grave. When Kagome turned heel to rejoin the girls on the way to the hot springs, she forcefully crushed Inuyasha's still body with her feet.

"I think you might have killed him this time..." Sango murmured to her friend, who just shrugged, not caring the least at that moment whether or not she'd inadvertedly murdered the half-demon.

* * *

**_A/N:_ Geez Kouga! Why didn't you say that to Aria before! Now she can finally get out of her, 'I'm-evil-so-everything-bad-or-slightly-upsetting- is-always-somehow-my-fault' issue! ARGH! FINALLY! Haha, I can not wait to write the scene between the girls in the hot springs X3**

Anyway thanks to the following who reviewed:

**XXTakaraXX **

**Alechaos Ogigio**

**Axelgirl14**

**Mi-chan1991**

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**And then I'll be laughing and eating the sweet-goodness, without sharing, right in front of you and make you suffer until you get your lazy arse to review my stories like I've wanted you to _since chapter ONE!_**

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	27. Chapter 27: Hotspring

Aria looked awkwardly away from the two women's gazes, their eyes a little _too_ intense for comfort.

"Uh... so..." Aria tried saying, watching Shippo and Chise playing with some kind of strange ring filled with air Kagome had brought from the future. The miko had called it a _pool toy_.

"Yes Aria?" Kagome asked, leaning closer in hopes that the silver eyed girl would open up to them.

Aria fiddled with her hair that was now loose and floating in the water around her, "Um... well... I was wondering if... it was possible to... _train_ my powers in any way?" Both Sango and Kagome blinked, not expecting such a question.

"W-Why do you want that? I thought your body wasn't used to using it and I thought you didn't _want_ to use it," Sango said, to which Kagome gave a short glare at her. The whole point of their travelling together was to try and encourage Aria to train her power, they weren't supposed to discourage her.

Sango quickly covered up, "I mean it's fine if you want to I'm just wondering is all!"

The silver eyed girl smiled, "No that's okay, it's just... I think I'm making things troublesome for Kouga, and I want to be of some help... even if it's only a little. So I thought it might be good if I get a little better... at... fighting..." Her voice trailed off as she took in the wide eyes of the two girls. Aria sighed, thinking it was useless after all, while Sango and Kagome, were trying to hold back a torrent of questions concerning her feelings for the wolf-demon.

"I guess it's not the best idea I've had," Aria said defeatedly. "It's probably better that I-"

"No no no!" Kagome stopped the girl. "We'd be glad to help you train! It's a good idea too!"

"That's right! We can all help to see what kind of power you have!" Sango added.

Kagome grinned with a hint of deviousness, which went unnoticed by Aria, "And I know Kouga would be happy to train with you as well!"

Sango glanced at Kagome smiling to herself, silently congratulating her friend for directing the conversation back to the crucial point they wanted to discuss with Aria.

Aria blushed brightly at the suggestion, "I don't know about that... and I'm supposed to be making less trouble for him remember?"

"Don't worry! It won't be any trouble for him at all, especially since he likes you," Sango encouraged.

"W-What?"

"That's right! You're definitely special to him! Like how he looks after you when you're recovering from using your power," Kagome said with a smile, remembering the vigilance in which Kouga stayed by Aria's side.

"When we found you guys asleep together amongst all those flowers," Sango said.

"Oh! The time when Takeo was attacking the village, he went to find us because you'd stopped him from protecting you directly."

"And the time he ran off with you when we were coming back from the festival, after Miroku was teasing him!" Sango added.

Kagome turned to Sango, "You didn't tell me about this! What happened?"

"Well Kouga was sulking 'cause he thought Aria was mad at him and I'm not sure what Miroku said - and I'm not sure I _want_ to know - but Kouga ran off with Aria straight away without a word. Isn't that ri-?"

Sango stopped seeing the girl's bright red face as she stared off into the distance, obviously remembering something from that night. The girls looked at each other and grinned.

"Aria?" Kagome asked, trying to regain the girl's attention.

When Aria realised both girls were waiting for some kind of response from her, she seemed startled, "Huh? Sorry, what was that?"

"I was going to ask what you two did, after Kouga ran away with you," Sango said.

Aria blushed more and stuttered profusely, "T-That's a strange way of p-putting it. I-It's n-not like anything b-big happened."

Kagome pressed further, "So if nothing interesting happened tell us! It'll stay a secret between us three if you're _really_ concerned, though if it's nothing I don't know why it's a secret."

Aria studied each girl before surrendering, "Okay then. Once we got close to the village, he stopped and let go of me, and he asked me why I was angry at him and I asked why he was angry at me and... then..." She trailed off thinking about what happened next. "Well... He sort of well..."

Sango and Kagome smiled encouragingly at the girl, whose voice was now nothing more than a tiny whisper, almost barely audible, "He kinda, maybe hugged me... and then he kissed me goodni-"

"He _WHAT_?" both girls cried, interrupting the silver-eyed girl, shocked that Kouga could have done something like that already.

Aria blushed profusely, "No no no! I meant to say 'he kissed me on the forehead'... it's not like _that_..."

Both girls had a brief moment of revelation before silently celebrating that the girl had finally confided in them.

Kagome's smile lost its deviousness as she leaned forward enthusiastically, "That's so adorable of him! Who would've thought under all that gruffness he would be so romantic like that?" she sighed, to which Sango agreed.

"It's so nice he treats you so carefully. I mean look at the two of us, one who's in love with a two-timer and the other has a groping pervert at her heels," Sango said, reflecting on their own circumstances.

Aria had her hands held out in front of her as if gesturing for something to stop, "I-I really don't think there are any romantic feelings between us!"

Sango raised an eyebrow, "None? You don't feel anything when you're with him?"

Aria shook her head, "No! I just get really nervous when he's around, and sure he surprises me with things like... _kissing_ my forehead," she explained, whispering the word 'kissing'. "But I don't know if he could find me a romantic interest when I'm basically just an adopted pack member and he's got Ayame as his betrothed," Aria finished, noticing the sudden sadness that blossomed at the thought of Ayame and Kouga together.

"Eh? How do you know about Ayame?" Kagome asked.

"Ginta and Hakkaku told me. Apparently they've been engaged for quite some time, not that it matters to me," Aria said, a hint of bitterness seeping into her tone.

Sango chuckled a little, "As much as it seems that way Aria, Kouga had forgotten all about it until only recently. There's very little romantic connection between them."

Aria frowned, "But even so, she's from another wolf-demon tribe! Marrying to unite two demon tribes sounds much more profitable than a marriage to a person who could bring the destruction of the world!"

Both human girls wanted desperately to tell the girl that it was actually probably better for Aria, actually the potential protecter of the entire world, to marry the wolf-demon prince than for Ayame to do so, however they obviously couldn't say that. Kagome decided to redirect the conversation.

"So it does bother you?" Kagome enquired.

Aria's frown deepened, "Of course it does. Once Kouga and Ayame are married, I'm sure Ayame wouldn't want me, a stray human woman, born of evil to linger in the den."

Kagome smiled nervously, "Ayame wouldn't do that." Though she didn't tell Aria that Ayame had nearly killed _her_ because she thought Kouga had declared Kagome his woman.

There was a quiet silence for quite sometime as the girls sat in the hot spring, listening to the soft noises of the day. Meanwhile Aria was pondering if she really _did _have any feelings for Kouga, but found she couldn't _tell_ if she was interested or not.

"H-How do you know you _like_ someone anyway?" she asked meekly, breaking the silence.

Kagome hummed thoughtfully before attempting to make a reply, "I guess it's different for each person, but for me, I can't stop thinking about that person, and even if I'm not thinking about that person, somehow my thoughts always go to him anyway. I don't see his flaws as much as I used to and I sometimes find them endearing. Most of all I just want to be near that person a lot."

Sango nodded her agreement, "I'm quite similar to Kagome, but for me, I get quite self-conscious around the person I like, and my heart does these annoyingly painful little flips."

Aria took in all this information with rapture, storing the knowledge for future reference.

When the topic of 'liking someone' had died down, and Kagome and Sango's curiosity about the relationship between Aria and Kouga had been satisfied, Kagome brought out strange coloured bottles for them to use while bathing. Kagome said they were to use in your hair and it made hair look better... 'shampoo' she said it was called. Aria, now completely fascinated by the strange ointments that foamed in Kagome's hair, happily joined in, having Sango coat her hair in the futuristic products.

When they were finished cleaning themselves, all of them got out of the hot spring to dry off and get changed. After handing each of the girls a towel, and Aria an extra smaller towel for Shippo and Chise to use, Kagome blinked in surprise when she realised all their clothes had mysteriously vanished. The other girls, upon seeing the missing clothes as well, looked to Kagome to explain, who also didn't know what had happened to their clothing.

Hearing a small noise, all heads turned to face group of monkey-looking animals... holding all of their clothes. The animals realised that three murderous gazes were fixed in their direction, and promptly fled with the clothing. The girls stood dumbstruck for a few seconds, before tightening their towels around their bodies, running and shouting threats after them. Shippo and Chise just watched the chase quietly as they sat down, eating some of Kagome's 'lollipops'.

Kagome had a small epiphany as they chased the animals and called out to Aria, "This could be the start of your training!"

"How?" Aria shouted back, groaning frustratedly as the animals suddenly did a sharp U-turn.

Sango quickly caught onto Kagome's idea, "That's right, when we first met you, you were running at a lightning speed pace remember?"

Aria nodded, vaguely remembering the moment, "Yes and how is this relevant?"

"Put a little bit of power in your legs to let you run faster, if you can of course!" Kagome said, beginning to pant a little from chasing the damned creatures.

Aria thought about this briefly before testing their theory out. Her legs warmed up a little as she felt her power seep into her muscles and her pace quickened drastically. There was a brief moment of pride as Aria realised she'd successfully used her power to speed up without over doing it... until she realised that she was still speeding up with every step and wasn't slowing down. The girls watched in surprise as Aria overtook the creatures and kept running faster.

"Aria stop!" Sango called out.

"I can't!" Aria shouted back, trying to get a hold of her power but having difficulty to do so.

When her feet were hardly touching the ground anymore, Aria was about to go into a full blown panic before she noticed a certain wolf-demon standing right in her path. Kagome, Sango, Shippo, Chise and the animals who had stopped to watch the speeding human girl, all watched as the girl collided into Kouga, sending them both flying into the air and landing in an awkward and painful looking heap. The onlookers all winced as they imagined all sorts of pain the two would be in.

Kouga, who was sprawled out on the ground grunted as he attempted to move, feeling oncoming bruises all over his body. He stopped moving however when he realised there was a weight on top of him. Aria sighed with relief when she felt her power finally leaving her legs, and made to pick herself up, freezing when her silver eyes found themselves almost too close to bright blue orbs. Their faces were so close that they could feel each other's warm breath against their cheeks. Aria found herself captivated by the demon's eyes while Kouga's gaze couldn't move from the girl's lovely yet surprised face. The wolf demon and fiera stayed frozen for a long moment, not really knowing what to do in their situation; one of which a wolf demon prince had a beautiful girl lying on top of him dressed only in a thin towel.

Aria was the first to snap out of their stupor and hurriedly jumped off Kouga, turning away so she could hide the enormous blush that reddened her face.

"Sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going!" she apologised.

"No no, don't be. I came down to see what was going on... there was a lot of noise," Kouga said, gazing up in the air to restrain himself from looking at Aria who not decently dressed yet.

Aria's voice had turned into an embarrassed murmur, "Y-yeah... our clothes were taken by animals."

The animals in question, realised the clothes they's stolen were suddenly no longer in their clutches, Kagome and Sango having snuck up on them while they watched Kouga and Aria crash into each other. Kagome and Sango were walked away victoriously, clothes in hand while the creatures disappeared in disapointment.

"Aria! We got the clothes back!" Sango called out to the girl. Both girls smirked at the two. Their feelings for each other were so obvious and it was almost cute the way they danced around each other. However now that their clothes had returned, they wanted to get dressed without the presence of the wolf-demon.

"I'll just... leave now," Kouga said before walking away, leaving Aria to Kagome and Sango who had more questions for the silver-eyed girl.

* * *

**_A/N:_ Sorry this took so long to get out there, but I was procrastinating a lot and had mild writer's block where I had no idea what exactly _to _write. Hehe, I know this scene was slightly cliched but hey! It was bound to happen XD**

**The next chapters should be realtively short seeing as next week I have holidays and my mother's actually planned stuff for us to do for once so I may or may not have time to write... That's why if I do, they won't be long chapters!**

Anyway thanks to the following who reviewed, I actually cannot describe to you how much I appreciate them!:

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**I WONT UPDATE AT ALL OVER THE HOLIDAYS!**

Tigeresssa's inner voice: _*gasp* That's so unfair for the lovely people that always review!_  
Tigeresssa: *sigh* Fine. I'll just ask politely then.

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For those of you, who don't grasp the strange yet ridiculously simple concept of a smiley face,  
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	28. Chapter 28: White Wolf

No-one knew what to make of the scene before them. Kagome face-palmed. Sango and Miroku were shaking their heads at the misunderstanding. Inuyasha was laughing himself silly. Aria was redder than Inuyasha's fire-rat robes. Kouga was shocked frozen, he may as well have been made of marble. Kirara didn't really understand _what_ was going on anyway, while Shippo and Chise were gleefully happy.

Despite the myriad of reactions, all of their eyes were on two people; Aria, who had been knocked to the ground, and the girl standing above her in white wolf furs.

"A-Ayame! You've got it all wrong!" Sango tried talking to the wolf demon girl.

"No! It's true isn't it?" Ayame cried, tears starting to form in her eyes. She pointed furiously at Aria, "You mated with Kouga didn't you?"

There it was again, the question that had taken everyone by surprise. Aria would've gone redder from embarrassment if she could've... instead, she cringed from the suggestion. Aria was just picking flowers with the kids when Ayame appeared out of nowhere, pinning her to the ground and coming to weird conclusions.

Ayame, taking the silence as an agreement, stomped over to Kouga and slapped him across the face with as much force as she could muster. "I can't believe you'd do such a thing! First you propose to me, then Kagome and now you've gone and had a _pup _with another woman?" Ayame sobbed, jabbing an accusing finger at Kouga's 'pup', Chise.

Shippo and Chise hid behind a small bush at the gesture, the wolf demon woman looking a little too frightening for them to look at, while Aria and Kouga had been rendered speechless.

Ayame suddenly stopped crying and instead looked furious, "I could've born you much better children than that!"

Aria was snapped back into reality when she'd heard the insult towards Chise. She fixed irritated silver eyes on the white wolf demon as she stepped in front of Chise protectively.

"Are you insinuating that my Chise is lacking in some way?" she growled at Ayame, who smirked at Aria's sudden interest to fight.

"Maybe I did. Maybe I didn't. Thought it's not like it's a secret that she isn't that strong," Ayame retorted. Kagome and Miroku made attempts to make Ayame apologise, sensing a growing fury in the small Fiera's aura.

Aria twitched. "How dare you!"

The wolf demon woman growled back, "How dare I? What about how dare _you_? You - You temptress, stealing my betrothed from me!"

"Temptress? Me? Who's the one with the skimpy skirt? I'm not the one showing off so much leg!" Aria shouted back, indicating at Ayame's mini fur skirt.

When everyone saw Ayame reach for her leaf shuriken, Kouga stepped in to stop the quarrel, finally having regained his composure... somewhat.

"Hey! That's enough!" he scolded the two women, grabbing hold of Ayame's arm, stopping her from harming Aria. He knew wolf demons had a thing for upholding their honour, and Ayame felt her honour was betrayed since she believed her bethrothal had been soiled. However, nothing of the kind had occurred and there was no need for bloodshed today.

"But-But Kouga-!" Ayame protested.

"Ayame. Nothing has happened between me and Aria," Kouga said firmly.

The Northern wolf tribe girl took in the seriousness in Kouga's expression before her eyes looked towards the blushing but still furious Aria who was holding the child Chise close to her.

"Chise is not even her blood child, you should have been able to smell that," Kouga said in hushed tones so that Aria didn't hear. Sure enough, once Ayame did a double take, she realised that not only did they _not_ have a similar scent, but Aria was human while Chise was a full-blooded demon.

Ayame frowned, "Why are they in your pack then?"

Kouga sighed and let go of the woman's arm, "She helped our tribe so we're repaying her by letting her stay. Any more questions?" Ayame shook her head. "Then stop causing trouble!" he ordered.

* * *

Ayame did stop causing trouble, however... she didn't leave. As they travelled, mostly she stuck around Aria and Chise, to see why a human girl would adopt a wolf-demon child. Sure Kagome had kinda done that already with that fox-boy Shippo, but she was a miko with almost perpetually pure intentions. This girl with weird eyes, she was different. Not a miko. Not a demon, but had a demon's eyes. And somehow was able to become a mother to a wolf demon child.

Aria did not like the closeness to which Ayame was breaching. She was still pretty upset that the wolf-woman had called Chise weak and herself a temptress. Chise was not in the least bit weak! She clearly had the ability to look after herself when Shippo found her alone but healthy and she was able to make a home and family in a strange place... that was something Aria had not been able to achieve for years... And she wasn't a temptress!

Kouga growled in frustration. All three women, of whom Ginta and Hakkaku had suggested as potential mates, were now all within the same small vicinity. He could tell that Ayame was no longer worried about her position as his 'betrothed' being uprooted, but he could tell Aria was not happy that Ayame was around. Kagome was watching the two carefully to make sure they wouldn't come to blows again so she was keeping close as well. Kouga could sense some irritation in Kagome also, though he arrogantly assumed that Kagome had some sort of feelings for him.

Kagome, and Sango for that matter, were _very _irritated, they'd spent so much effort to try and get Aria to recognize her completely obvious feelings for Kouga, and now Ayame had come along and made things unnecessarily complicated. Both women liked Ayame, but this was _definitely _the wrong day for her to show up.

Shippo and Chise were pretty proud of themselves. Clearly their goal of making Aria and Kouga, Chise's parents was working, as even Ayame had thought they were a family.

"So where are you guys going anyway?" Ayame asked them.

Inuyasha was the first to reply, "We're hunting for Naraku while dropping off these three back home." He jerked a thumb at Kouga, Aria and Chise.

Ayame hearing the trio's destination, hugged Kouga's arm affectionately. Aria tried to ignore the action, but couldn't shake off the painful little flop her heart did in her chest.

"Hey I could come with you and visit!" Ayame suggested to the wolf prince happily. Everyone, minus Kouga and Ayame, saw Aria's whole body twitch at the thought of Ayame journeying with them _and_ staying with them at the den.

Kagome leaned in towards Sango, "I know she's on the verge of strangling Ayame but at least it seems Aria's become more aware of her feelings... I guess."

Sango nodded, "We've just gotta watch Ayame's back for her so that Aria doesn't get any ideas."

Meanwhile, Aria put on a false smile and turned to Shippo and Chise, "Let's go find something to do, what do you say?" And without even a response from the kids, she hurried away in front of the group, not waiting to hear Kouga's reply to Ayame's suggestion.

* * *

The children plus one silver eyed girl were lying down on some grass panting after a thirty minute game of tag. Aria was amazed at how much energy children had, needing to use a little of her own power to keep up with them. It was a good distraction for a while, away from Ayame. Aria wasn't sure what quite made her so irritated by the girl's presence. She had argued with herself that it was because she had a bad first impression of the girl, but that wasn't the only thing.

_...my heart does these annoyingly painful little flips..._

Aria groaned. Surely it was just coincidence that her heart was hurting when Ayame got that close with Kouga?

"Mama?" Chise asked mid-pant.

"Hmm?"

Aria watched as Chise bit her bottom lip nervously before speaking. "Do you love father?"

* * *

**_A/N:_ Yeah this was really roughly done but I _am_ on holidays so my brain is a little slow. So this chapter was inspired by an online friend of mine who wanted to know what would happen if Ayame was thrown in, so this is what came up :) Poor Aria, everything's sorta being heaped up on her at once!  
****Aforementioned friend also suggested I try something else! Which is that you guys pick the next chapter that comes out!**

**Here are the following scenarios I have ready to write, all of them with sufficient KougaxAria fluff X3**

**1. Aria's first real training session**

**2. Shippo and Chise plan a day out with Kouga and Aria**

**3. Chise learns the basics about being a wolf-demon**

**That's what I've got so far! Each of them are short (It's the holidays, I warned ya!) but should be easy to write out for you guys!**

**Also I loved your smiley faces guys! Solid effort! :)**

Anyway thanks to the following who reviewed:_  
_

**BlackRose**

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**XXTakaraXX **

**poisedrose**

**Raven**

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Also thanks to everyone else who added this their favourites/alerts! :D

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**Why?**

** ... **

**Because you need to vote for the next chapter I write for you!**

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	29. Chapter 29: Myriad of Emotions

Aria woke up in the dark, grimacing at the dream she'd had before flinching in the cold. As the frosty air bit into her skin, she pulled her little girl close, her soft, dark, fur-like hair tickling her neck and her small and comfortably warm body fit nice and snugly against her own. Aria sighed contently, feeling a strange sense of ease. This was a very different to the feeling she got from last night's dream... or nightmare rather.

She shuddered at the images that flashed in her memory. Bloodied corpses, red pools staining the ground and Aria herself with her arms drenched in the blood of others as she sat amongst the gore with a wild and feral look on her face.

She tightened her grasp around Chise, feeling as though the small girl could fend off the horror by her mere presence. She heard something hit the ground, and lifted her head to see who or what it was. Tiny glowing bits of red embers rising up in the air signalled to her that it was just a log off the dying fire that had made the sound. Aria found herself staring at the other members of the group she travelled with as they slept. It was surreal almost, in the gray before the dawn, to see a group of people that had accepted her so whole-heartedly, that it was almost sad to part from them to go back to Kouga's den. But as she gently stroked Chise's hair, she knew that the little wolf demon needed to be around other wolf-demons to learn from them and live among them as a proper pack member. There was no place better right now than the Den.

Especially if Kouga was going to be there to protect her. Aria swallowed a little with the thought that she probably won't live long enough to see Chise grow into the lovely and beautiful woman she knew she would become. Although there was a chance that Takeo would kill her before she grew old, which in that case she was even gladder that Kouga was there to take Chise in. Even if Kouga didn't, she had a feeling either Ginta, Hakkaku or even Kagome, would take her in.

She shook her head to get rid of the thoughts of dying. There was no need to worry about it, right now, she just had to enjoy every minute she had with her little girl.

As the sun began to light up the morning sky, Aria found herself wrapping the fur blanket closer around Chise before getting up and walking to the nearby clearing where she could watch the sky change colours as the sun rose. She stood, freezing in the chill morning air, with her bare arms hanging limp by her sides and her head tilted back to see the blue and red clouds frozen in the air.

She shivered a little before something soft wrapped around her, covering her head and her shoulders. She was about to protest about having someone suddenly disrupt her 'sky viewing', when she noticed the blanket was made of warm wolf's fur. Pulling it off her head and wrapping her bare arms in the blanket, she quickly looked around to see who had given her the blanket. Her silver eyes locked onto the retreating form of Kouga.

_'It's so nice he treats you so carefully...' _Sango's voice rang in her head, something the slayer had told her back at the hot spring.

She found herself blushing, and she whispered a quick, "Thank you."

She knew he'd heard her when she saw his head turn a little to the side at her words, but he kept walking as if he hadn't heard anything. Aria smiled as she nestled deeper into the warm fur blanket she'd been given, turning her gaze skyward once more.

* * *

Kagome and Sango sent scathing glares at the red-haired girl who was latched onto Kouga's arm. They thought she'd left yesterday evening, however she had made a reappearance when they were about to leave again. They honestly didn't dislike Ayame... it's just that right now she was interfering with their ulterior motives; getting Kouga and Aria to realise they loved each other.

Chise and Shippo were also annoyed that Aria and Kouga weren't able to be together, the way they wanted it to be.

Inuyasha and Miroku were just glad neither Kagome or Sango were as clingy as Ayame.

Then Chise's green eyes lit up with excitement as an idea worked it's way through her mind. She whispered her plan to Shippo, who repeated the plan to Kagome, who told Sango. All four decided to exact the little girl's plan silently amongst themselves as they walked. The only problem in their path, was getting rid of Ayame.

However, Kouga himself was getting increasingly frustrated having the woman wrapping herself around his arm and talking his ears off. He distracted himself to help himself ignore the incessant chatter that spewed from Ayame's mouth. He could hear the rustling of grass as it blew in the gentle breeze, quiet but happy murmurings between the kit and the wolf cub, the sounds of feet hitting the dirt, there was also something else he'd never heard before, so silent it was almost non-existent. Straining over Ayame's voice to listen, he discovered it was the sound of melodic humming, sounding out a light and soothing tune. The humming was feminine, and sounded too mature to be Chise and didn't sound at all like Kagome or the other woman, Sango. His eyes widened ever so slightly as he came to the conclusion it must have been Aria singing. He felt like asking Ayame to shut up so he could listen properly, but then he figured that if he surprised the silver-eyed girl, she'd stop humming all together.

Aria was trying her best to ignore the two wolf-demons leading the group by humming a song she'd heard a long time ago. Her heart twisted a little when she remembered Takeo used to sing the tune to her when they went to sleep. That felt like another world completely now; one where she might have grown up without any damned prophecy, lived a long, normal human's life and she and her brother could have stayed close, the way things should have been.

A sharp squeal brought her out of her melancholic thoughts. Whipping her head up towards the direction of the noise, she saw Ayame sprinting away from them and _fast._

"What did you say to her you dolt?" Aria asked Kouga dryly, assuming he'd offended Ayame causing her sudden exit.

Kouga whipped around, "I didn't say anything! She suddenly started ranting about how she wanted to get me something or rather and ran off!"

"Are you sure she didn't just run away because you're a boring moron and she finally realised it?" Aria asked with a smirk.

Kouga twitched angrily. Kagome stepped in between the two and faced the angry wolf-demon, "Speaking of running off, would you and Aria please take Shippo and Chise to get new clothes in the nearby village? They're growing out of what they're wearing already. Also if you could get some food would be nice!" She smiled oh-so-sweetly before shoving a handful of coins in his hands.

Kouga stared at the coinage dumbfoundedly before raising an eyebrow, "Why do we have to go together?"

"Because I need to talk to Inuyasha about something in private, Sango needs to take care of her Hiraikotsu, Miroku has to - er - well we don't really let him in a village by himself... Plus someone needs to make sure everyone stays safe," Kagome relayed their elaborate response.

Miroku sighed dejectedly as he was just informed that he couldn't visit the village they were approaching. And he'd even heard rumours that the women there were quite lovely...

Sango whacked the back of the monk's head with her Hiraikotsu and glared at him.

"But my dear Sango I didn't say or do anything!" he whined, rubbing his sore head.

"You were _thinking_ something," she growled.

Kouga huffed, "Fine, we'll go."

Kagome grinned. "Great! We'll be waiting right here!" she said brightly, sending a wink straight at Aria that the silver-eyed sure didn't miss.

* * *

Kouga stared at the various small pieces of clothing with intense curiosity. How was it possible that children were so tiny?

"Do you like that one?" Aria asked, watching him gazing at the kimono while she helped Shippo try on a new shirt.

His blue eyes looked at her briefly before putting the clothing down, "No. I was just looking."

Aria shrugged a little bit before leaning back to see how Shippo looked in the new outfit. The village was surprised about having demons wandering around the village, and were even more shocked to have see a human woman amongst them, but rumours had spread that there was a group of travelling people of various races; human, demon, hanyou, all of whom helped people. The villagers had assumed that these people were that rumoured group and had settled for watching them curiously as they passed. Plus these people did not look like murderous bloodthirsty killers.

The seamstress who owned the clothing shop was helping to measure Chise.

"Oh look at you! Aren't you adorable? Is she yours?" the older woman asked, pointing at Aria and Kouga.

Aria choked a little at the question and Kouga went red. Before either could recover themselves to clear the misunderstanding, Chise answered the seamstress.

"Mmhmm, my father and mother," she declared, pointing to Kouga and Aria accordingly.

The seamstress smiled at the two who were both now equally red.

"Ah, young romance. You have a lovely daughter," the woman said with a touch of cheekiness in her tone before leaving to get some kimonos that could fit Chise.

Chise was oblivious to the uncomfortable waves rolling off her 'parents', as she was beaming about more people knowing about her family. Which reminded her...

"Where's Uncle Ginta and Uncle Hakkaku?" she asked.

Kouga, whose blush had finally settled down to a pale pink, replied, "They had to go do stuff for me back home before we get th-"

He was cut short by the wooden stool that had hit him in the gut. Aria mentally cursed that her aim had been thrown off due to her embarrassment, and thus had missed his head. Though her aim hadn't hit its target, it didn't mean it didn't hurt. Kouga groaned and doubled-over from the force of the wooden stool bruising his torso. He'd sworn she used her power in that throw...

"So _now_ you talk? Why didn't you say something to that woman earlier? We're not...you know...!" she shouted at him, going bright red before finishing her sentence.

"Well what about you? Why didn't _you_ say anything to clear that misunderstanding?" he shouted back.

Aria took a deep breath to calm herself, something Kagome had told her to do when she was getting mad. Once she breathed out, she smiled with an evil glint in her eyes, making Kouga take a step back in fear.

"Would you mind shutting up and finding something that would fit Chise before I make sure you never speak again?" she said, her voice struggling to stay sweet.

Kouga shuddered at what horrors could occur should he disobey her, and promptly set about searching for a Chise-sized kimono. It didn't take long before he found a kimono that looked like the one Aria wore at the festival. It was the same pale green, only instead of silver blossoms, it was covered in dark green embroidered leaves that were almost the same shade as the little girl's eyes. It came with a light pink obi that went well together with the kimono's fabric. Observing it a bit closer, it looked around her size and she would be able to easily move around in it. He dangled it in front of Aria's face until she took hold of it.

"You like this one?" she asked, looking up at the wolf-demon who was avoiding her gaze. She didn't miss the light blush on his cheeks as he nodded.

Aria scrutinised it for herself before quickly putting the kimono on Chise to see for herself what it'd look like. Aria resisted a strong urge to cuddle the little girl to death when she saw her wearing the little kimono and settled for making Chise spin around for her so she could see how the outfit looked at all angles. She pursed her lips a little when she saw Chise's small black wolf tail peeking out from beneath the kimono.

"Looks like we'll need to do something about that tail..." she murmured to herself.

The seamstress returned and looked at the little girl who was looking down at the dress she was clothed in.

"Oh! Would you like me to make room for your tail?" the older woman asked Chise, who nodded enthusiastically.

The final decisions were quickly made and paid for, and the seamstress told them that it'd be half an hour before she finished altering the dress for Chise.

With the half an hour to spare, the four walked around the village. Then Shippo and Chise nodded at each other, ready to enact their plan. Chise ran forward, gigling and laughing as Shippo joined her, running away from her two parents. Aria and Kouga looked dumbstruck briefly before they raced after them.

"Chise! What are you doing? Stop running!" Aria cried, running after them.

Kouga ran past her shouting, "Get back here you little runts!"

The two children made a sharp left into a large crowd, disappearing amongst the people. Kouga cursed as he had difficulty searching for their scents among all the others. It seemed like the village was in the middle of some mass market, selling all sorts of foods, trinkets and other possessions. Aria caught up to Kouga and panted as she stared wide-eyed at the massive crowd. She only took a few seconds to catch her breath before she turned to Kouga.

"Let me climb onto your shoulders!" she told him over the chatter of the crowd.

He raised an eyebrow at her and she elaborated, "I want to see if I can find them from up higher!"

Kouga sighed and picked her up, seating her on one of his shoulders. He'd never tell her that she was practically weightless in his opinion but he was surprised that she was so petite that she sat comfortably on only one of his shoulders with one of his arms supporting her. Maybe she needed to eat more...

Aria wobbled a bit, trying to maintain balance before searching the crowd. She saw that thankfully the market place wasn't too large, however it was packed with people.

"Can you see them?" Kouga asked her.

She shook her head before catching a glimpse of red hair running up the stairs to a shrine.

"I think..."

A little black haired kid followed the red headed child up the steps.

"I see them! They're heading up to the shrine!" she called.

"Right!" Kouga said, before swinging Aria around so that she was holding on to his back.

"Hey what're you-?" she asked before her words were cut off by the rush of wind that flew past them. Kouga jumped skyward and towards the runaway children, deciding it would be faster to jump over the crowd instead of trying to run through it. As they started to come down, Aria clung tighter, clenching her jaw to stop herself from screaming. The children looked up when they smelled the approaching demon and fiera and stopped running up the stairs. Upon landing, Aria didn't let go of Kouga and remained with her arms around his shoulders and her legs wrapped tightly around his waist.

"Is it over?" she asked meekly.

Kouga peeled her arms from his neck and bent down so she could get off. He noticed her slow and careful movements as she made sure that there was solid ground beneath her feet. Aria breathed a sigh of relief once both feet were on the ground. She saw the quizzical stare that Kouga was giving her and explained.

"I don't really like being in the air..." she mumbled putting her hand to her forehead as if to fend off the feeling of dizziness. "Being up high, like on a cliff or something is fine when I have something beneath me, but I hate being in the air..."

She thought she heard Kouga chuckle, but wasn't sure when he turned around to loom angrily over the kids.

"What the hell you two? Why'd ya run off like that?" he yelled at them. Instead of looking ashamed or scared as he expected, they grinned deviously before continuing to race up the stone stairs without answering the wolf-demon.

Kouga quickly helped up Aria before following them. He stopped once they reached the top of the stairs, surprised by what he saw. The two children were sitting on a large coloured blanket surrounded by steaming food, as if they'd been waiting for the demon and fiera to arrive for hours. Aria raised an eyebrow and smiled at the scene.

"What's all this about? How did you manage to-?" she asked, stepping foward a little.

Shippo smiled proudly, "I used my fox magic to keep all this stuff invisible while we walked here. Kagome helped us make the food but it was all Chise's idea!"

Kouga sighed, "So you ran away to set this up?"

Both children nodded enthusiastically. Aria smothered a giggle and grabbed Kouga's hand, pulling him towards the lunch that the kids had prepared for them. While they were eating, Chise handed her mother a box of food she'd made, with the help of Kagome of course.

"What's this?" Aria asked, looking at the interesting food.

The little girl beamed and began explaining, "Miss Kagome calls them 'sandwiches'! She said they're food from somewhere across the sea!"

After Shippo showed them how to eat said sandwiches, and all the food had been eaten, Aria lay down on the blanket and watched the clouds pass over them. Chise went to copy her mother, and lay down next to her, though not really knowing what they were supposed to be looking at.

It was then that Kouga heard the humming again. The tune of the calm melody was carried down the light breeze and he felt himself relax. He wondered briefly if this was the effect of the power of the good fiera. Looking at Aria, he saw her eyes were closed as she sounded out the song. When she stopped, her brows creased into an expression of frustration. Her silver eyes opened again and she sighed. It was time to collect the food and the clothes Kagome had told them to buy. She had enjoyed the moment of peace the children had planned for them but now it was time to do what she was supposed to do.

She sat up and began packing the boxes of leftovers away. She raised an eyebrow at Kouga, telling him to help her clean up or else. When they were ready to go again, Aria led them to the markets where food was being sold. It was a strange moment for her though, as she picked out various vegetables to purchase. Usually she was outcast from the villages she moved to, viewed like a diseased parasite or something along those lines. Here, next to Kouga and the children, she was respected like everyone else and was greeted with smiles from strangers. She wasn't sure if this village was just weird, or if being surrounded by a kind of family had anything to do with it.

When they were done, they picked up the clothes from the seamstress who left them with parting words that made the wolf demon and fiera blush madly, and made their way back to the others.

Aria smiled at the kids playing in front of them. They enjoyed each other's company and had become good friends in the time that they'd shared. She wondered what she'd do when they got to the den. How could she separate the two?

Kouga had watched the expressions vary across Aria's face all day and he knew something was bothering her greatly. She'd woken up much earlier than usual and had been giving off an atmosphere of worry ever since. Finally, his curiosity got the better of him.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

She whipped around to face him, as if she were surprised he'd picked up on her concerns. "Nothing! Well, maybe something but it's fine!"

"It's fine? You've been thinking about it ever since this morning. Tell me."

"Why're you being so demanding?"

"Why're you avoiding the topic?"

Aria frowned at the subtle accusation."Because maybe I think you don't need to hear about it."

"Tell me."

"No."

"I'm your pack Alpha, I order you to tell me."

Aria stopped in her tracks. _Pack Alpha_. She blinked in surprise. _Your pack Alpha_. He'd never said that before. He had told her she was allowed to stay in the den before, but he'd never called her a part of the 'pack'. It sounded like something resembling a home, something permanent, and something she hadn't had in a long time. Aria felt tears of happiness welling up in her eyes and she quickly began walking ahead of Kouga so that he wouldn't see them. Though unfortunately, she'd forgetten that he could smell the salt water spilling over her cheeks.

He was suddenly in front of her and he was looking down at her with a troubled expression, "Don't tell me 'it's fine' if you feel _this_ upset about it!"

This caused Aria to laugh a little, confusing the wolf demon further.

"I'm not crying because of that!" she said, her laughing turning into relieved sobbing. Her emotions were already in a mess and here she was letting them all out in one confused jumble of tears, relief, shock, laughter, pent-up stress, happiness and worry.

Kouga, not really knowing what to do, continued to investigate why she seemed so upset. "Why are you crying then? Are you hurt?" he questioned, quickly scanning over her to check for injuries.

She choked out her words through her sobs. "Y-You called me - pack," she said, laughing a little in happiness at the last word.

"Do you not want to be?" Kouga asked, suddenly concerned that she didn't _want_ to stay in the den.

She frowned and punched his arm, "Of course I want to be a part of your pack idiot! I just... think too much..."

He relaxed upon hearing her words, understanding the rest of what she wanted to say.

"You crazy woman, you and Chise were pack _long_ ago. Now as much as I'm sure we'd both like to argue that out a while longer, I think you need a long rest and some sleep," he said softly, wiping away the water from her cheeks with his fur cuffs.

Aria nodded her agreement and they kept walking. She leaned her head on his shoulder as they walked, feeling tired at the mention of sleep.

Chise and Shippo watched the two catching up to them proudly. Their plan to get the two closer had worked perfectly.

Kouga sighed, wondering about how he managed to end up with such an insane woman by his side, while Aria was dying for a chance to sleep off the day's turbulence of emotions.

* * *

**_A/N: _So... *looks around warily* I KNOW! I KNOW! It's been a month since I last updated! I'm sorry! I tried to write in the beginning but writer's block and simple confusion of creative direction blocked me at first, then two of my friends had personal life meltdowns that I had to deal with (for some reason I'm the one people go to when they have life problems, which surprises me since I may be just as screwy as they are if not worse) and so I made this chapter nice and long as an apology! I will update properly from here on in I PROMISE!... Unless more of my friends decide to take a turn for the worst.**

**I hope not (-.-")**

**So as it were, the little scene at the end is a little piece of me... As I mentioned, few weeks ago I was going through a fair bit of crap in life and was watching a particuarly hilarious film when I burst into tears, both laughing and crying about all the sh*t that was going on. It was confusing but I felt great after XD So the end scene is not completely random, I kind of assimilated that experience of mine to Aria's situation. Besides, she was sure to break sometime soon what with her brother trying to kill her and all that jazz...**

**Also I received a ridiculous amount of reviews which were great pick me-ups when it was getting crappy so I really extra appreciate them guys!**

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	30. Chapter 30: Nightmare

A sadistic laugh rang through the dark forest, and echoed around her lone body. She cried out for someone, anyone to help her, but no sound came out, her mouth a series of gasping 'O's. She sobbed soundlessly, clutching her body to hold herself together.

'Aria?' someone familiar called. She looked up to see Kouga. And behind him, were Chise, Ginta, Hakkaku and the rest of the Inutachi, all looking at her worriedly.

Her hand reached out towards Kouga, until she heard her brother whispering in her ear, freezing her stance before she could touch him, "I wonder how long it'll take before they leave you. I'm guessing it won't be long."

She turned and swung an arm around behind her frantically trying to rid herself of his voice. Kouga and the others began to dissipate before her eyes, and she went to go hold onto them, to stop them from disappearing. But the second her fingers should have come into contact with skin, they vanished completely.

"They will _all_ leave you," Takeo said again, the words reverberating through her head.

"No!" she cried, searching for a way out in the darkness.

The laughing continued. "Oh yes they will. Especially if they knew what you've done..."

Suddenly the scene around her changed. A thick liquid oozed between her toes and dripped onto her face. Surrounding her were torn limbs and still faces of dead men in agony gazing up at her with blank eyes. Blood covered the walls and bodies piled high. Her hands were dyed, dyed in their blood.

* * *

A tortured cry woke the group.

Inuyasha was immediately on his feet, Tetsaiga drawn and golden eyes searching for the danger. Everyone else was soon on their feet and prepared for imminent danger, until they heard a soft, "Mama?"

Chise sat beside her mother, who was curled up in a tight ball, panting and sweating like she'd run a mile, her silver eyes wide under a mess of brown hair. The little girl went to brush the hair from Aria's face, but her mother screamed as if she was on fire and curled up tighter, clutching her head almost like she was protecting it.

Her silver eyes were open but not seeing, her mind filled with corpses grabbing and grasping at her arms and legs. Their dead fingers tangling through her hair and crawling over her body. Their touch was like embers on bare skin, but never burned.

She felt someone touch her. It wasn't like the heated skin of the dead, but she was frightened of it and hid from it anyway, afraid it was some new monster. Then another touch, heavier and stronger, warded off the hands of hell, bringing a cool relief.

Kouga was shocked by how hot Aria's skin was. The girl was shaking and sobbing, and Kouga worried that she was attacked without his knowing. He lifted her a little to check her for any sign of injury. Seeing that she was well physically, he shook her gently.

"Aria. Aria? Aria!"

After he called her name a few more times, her sobbing began to soften and she stopped shaking. When she finally seemed to realise she was awake, she stared at the wolf-demon for a long while, before cautiously reaching out to touch his face. As soon as her fingers brushed his cheek, she sat up and hugged him tightly.

"Thank God you're still here!" she cried, tightening her grip to confirm his solidity, and make sure he didn't disintegrate. "I didn't do it! I swear I didn't!"

Confused, Kouga stroked her head to console her, not sure if she was upset because of a nightmare, or if there was something else behind this.

* * *

**_A/N: _Another small chapter :( But I was out of ideas to make this chapter longer :P**

**Anyways, Next chapter will definitely be Aria's first real training session! I'm quite excited to write it!**

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	31. Chapter 31: Barriers

Kagome prodded the wolf-demon in the side, her gaze intently focused on her finger that was jabbing Kouga.

"Yeah?" he asked gruffly, still somewhat perturbed by what had happened that morning.

"I think we should start Aria's training today," Kagome said quietly. "She's already open to the idea, and it might help to distract her thoughts."

They both glanced at the silver eyed fiera sitting in front of the fire. She had been staring blankly into space every now and then, and when she wasn't, her smiles and her voice seemed somewhat forced to be friendly.

Kouga sighed, "Fine. You go first. She should begin with learning how to control her powers first. You know more about that with your miko powers don't you?"

Kagome blinked. She didn't think she'd ever heard Kouga say something quite so informed before. But he was right so she nodded and went ahead of the wolf demon to put her hand on the girl's shoulder. Aria jumped at the contact but quickly settled and put a false smile on her face.

* * *

Everyone watched the tiny white orb glowing in Aria's petite hands. Aria herself stared in amazement at the warm ball of light she cradled in her fingers. It had admittedly, taken her a total of sixty-five long minutes to conjure something that even _remotely_ looked spherical, but the fact she had _finally_ done it without passing out from exhaustion was an acheivement in itself. Kagome applauded her new pupil and the white light vanished.

Aria sighed in relief and slumped to the ground, "Thank goodness!" She could feel tiredness beginning to creep up on her, but the memory of her nightmares quickly brought her back to the waking world. Kagome had been teaching her how to control and manifest her powers and she was finally starting to get the hang of it. Sure she'd used her power a fair few times before, but it wasn't planned or controlled whenever she did. And more often than not, her uncontrolled use of power left her in a terrible state afterwards. Now that she was gradually getting some control, she was finally understanding that she _may_ have been a _tad_ reckless when it came to her abilities.

"You're picking things up quickly," Kagome praised, both surprised and glad at the girl's capacity for fast learning. Though Kagome noted that she'd seen Aria had used her power before when Aria first saved them from Naraku's puppet, and later at the hot spring, so maybe Aria was more at a loss on what to _do_ with her powers rather than having no control over them. But in any case, they needed to take small steps at a time to get a full understanding of the silver-eyed girl's ability before they began experimenting. "We'll finish here for today."

Aria simply nodded and let Chise jump into her lap.

"The lights were so pretty mama!" the girl cheered while nearly strangling her adoptive human mother in excitement. "Can I see them again?"

Aria gave an exhausted chuckle, "Mama's a bit tired right now, maybe tomorrow."

Kouga watched the two with a smile on his face that only Sango saw. He had made sure Chise hadn't tried to run and play with the 'pretty lights' while Aria was still having difficulty controlling her powers, just in case it wasn't safe. Although her powers were never created to harm and both he and Kagome, were sure her power wasn't going to be a hazard, but they decided to be careful anyway. But while Aria was having her lesson with Kagome, Kouga had noticed Chise was starting to develop her abilities as a wolf-demon. While waiting for Aria to finish, the child had disappeared with Shippo for a few minutes before returning with a wide grin.

"We're going home?" she asked.

Kouga wondered how on earth the child knew such a thing, but then realised that she'd probably smelled the familiar route and recognised where it led to. After nodding his affirmative, she beamed proudly and went back to whatever children's business she attended to. He noted that she'd probably need some form of teaching in basic wolf-skills.

It would only be just over a week until they returned to the den however, and he was not sure how his tribe would take to having a human in the pack. Sure they had accepted Kagome pretty easily but then again, it was _Kagome_... she seemed to make friends just by smiling at people. Aria however was reluctant to be open with anyone, mostly because of her situation and she seemed pretty stand-offish when you first met her. His light blue eyes flicked back to her direction.

Though her silver eyes were lined with exhaustion, they were alight and joined her lips in a bright smile. Her small but well-proportioned form was wrapped around the small black wolf cub in a tight hold. She looked completely like the mothers he saw with their own cubs in his tribe, and he smirked, deciding that she'd be fine.

* * *

Aria tried to blink away the cloudiness at the edges of her vision. It had been close to four days since she had been plagued by the nightmares. The first nightmare had frightened her immensely, and the following nightmares did so too, only she was able to keep from crying out in fear. They were usually filled with horrific images of what her power could do to people. Recurring images included Kouga's tribe on fire, Kagome and her friends being torn apart by her own hands, Chise's flesh melting off of her bones like hot liquid and Kouga's heart being ripped from his chest. She did not get much rest and it was taking it's toll on her body.

Everyone else noticed it too. Aria was in a perpetual daze, responding usually after the fourth time someone called her name. Dark circles had formed around her eyes, making her look deathly pale, her appetite was close to non-existent and she seemed to wince whenever she looked at someone. But they all knew her stubborn personality and she insisted on continuing with her training. Kagome did continue to teach Aria about how her powers could be used, but she made sure that her lessons didn't exhaust the frail girl too much.

When night-time settled in again, Kouga noticed Aria seated with her back against a large tree trunk, Chise curled up beside her and her silver eyes staring wide at the sky like an owl. He knew that she was hardly sleeping. What little sleep she got, was interrupted by something which he presumed were nightmares much like the first one she'd had.

He slowly made his way to sit beside her, but she didn't notice his presence until he spoke.

"Aria?" he whispered, so as not to wake the others.

She gave a small jump of alarm at the sound and flinched away from him when their eyes met. As soon as she saw Kouga, his image was replaced by the nightmare of her hand piercing through his chest to claw out his heart; blood painting her skin red as the flesh was torn from his body. When Kouga returned to normal in her mind's eye she relaxed a little but still kept her distance, hoping that her nightmares wouldn't become reality in front of her.

Kouga felt something sink inside of him at her reaction but continued, "Aria what's wrong?"

Aria felt her throat close up at the question. She knew it was a harmless question, and that he was concerned for her, but she didn't want to tell him that she had visions of herself tearing his heart from his chest almost nightly. What would he think of her? Would he finally come to his senses and realise that her power was a bloodthirsty menace under her skin?

She shook her head unconsciously, closing her eyes and swallowing her words.

"Aria. Look at me," Kouga ordered, finally grown tired of her reluctance to open up to him.

When she didn't open her eyes, he took hold of her chin and turned her head to face him. "Aria, _tell me _why you're acting as if you've given up."

At this, she fixed him with her silver eyes. The glaze of tiredness over the silver orbs was replaced by what looked like irritation and it startled Kouga with the sudden change. There was an unusual blazing he saw in their shining depths, that made him wonder if it was something new, or if the metallic flames in her eyes were something he'd missed before. She swallowed a little before speaking.

"Given up?" she hissed, her voice nearly as soft as a whisper. "Tell me how you'd feel if you could see visions of everyone you ever cared about, dying by your hands when you so much as _look_ at them. Hmm? I think it'd be rather normal for someone to not want to talk about such gruesome details, especially when all I can see now, is your blood pouring from you chest and onto my already bloodied hands. And sure, I'm terrified of doing such things to anyone, but I have _not, _in any sense of the word, _given up_."

It took Kouga a moment to process what she'd said, then he broke out in a grin, "Good. I really didn't want to have to tell you that myself... Wait here a second."

Aria watched confusedly as the wolf demon walked away from her, and towards the sleeping Kagome.

"Kouga!" she hissed, when she realised what he was doing.

His hand halted a few mere inches from the miko's shoulder when he heard Aria's voice cut through the silence. He didn't turn around as he heard a harsh shuffling of leaves behind him, followed by the soft thumps of her feet coming towards him.

"Don't wake her! For goodness sake, it's only a couple of nightmares!" she growled, twisting him away from Kagome. She froze however, when she saw the determination in the icy blue eyes.

"Yeah well, I will not have my tribe thinking that I don't care about my pack's well being. Especially when they look more skeleton than human," Kouga hissed back before quickly waking Kagome up with a short shake. At the sight of Kagome's eyes fluttering open, Aria whacked the back of the demon's head angrily.

"You woke her, stupid!" she sneered.

Kagome was struggling not to laugh. She had in fact been awake since Aria had first stopped Kouga from waking her, and listened to what she assumed was the whole conversation. Opening her eyes to Kouga kneeling on the ground clutching his head and Aria with her arms across her chest, only amused her more. _Such typical behaviour_, she mused quietly to herself.

"God! You used your power didn't you?" Kouga yelled... well as much as he could while whispering. Aria just ignored him and began apologising to Kagome for waking her.

Kagome waved her hand as if attempting to shoo away Aria's concerns, "No, it's fine! Is there something wrong?"

At this, Kouga spoke up, "Yeah. Is there something you can do about nightmares?"

The miko gave it a little thought before coming up with an idea. "I'm not sure if it'll work exactly, but I have something I think we could try."

* * *

Aria sat in front of Kagome who was teaching her about barriers and how they can be used.

"So you're saying-" Aria began, trying to make sense of the lesson in her tired condition. "-that I should try to make a barrier... in my mind?"

"Sort of, yes. But as I said before, you can make barriers for specific things to get in and out of, so we could try making a barrier to stop negative things coming into your dreams. Remember that ball of light you made a few days ago? If you focus on giving that ball of light a shape and a purpose, I think you'd be able to stop the nightmares," Kagome explained.

Aria's face scrunched a little as she thought about pursuing the experiment, then silently agreed to the midnight training by quickly conjuring a small sphere of light in her hands. As Kagome gave her instructions on how to manipulate her power, she followed, slowly moulding the ball into a large hollow bubble resting on her fingertips. When the barrier was ready, Kagome helped her form spells to ward off the nightmares before Aria brought the glowing bubble to her forehead, where it sunk into her skin and settled around her mind.

As Aria felt the barrier encase her conscioussness, she felt something familiar but something that wasn't a part of her being thrown out of her mind, taking with it the hundreds of images that plagued her dreams. After a little thought, she realised she knew exactly what was so familiar about the strange thing that the barrier rejected, or rather, who it belonged to.

Seeing the frown on the girl's face both Kouga and Kagome felt the need to ask if she was okay or not.

"No. No it's fine... It's just... Why are Takeo's thoughts in my mind?" she asked. Seeing the glance they shared, she figured that there was something they weren't telling her.

* * *

**_A/N: AHHH! _This took forever I'm so sorry eeryone! I'm having the biggest creative block with this story at the moment and I'm not even sure I like this chapter so much.. I don't think I wrote it very well but if a short summary is needed, here it is:**

**Aria's learning power control from Kagome. Kouga notices that Chise's somewhat maturing as a wolf demon. Aria's still being haunted pretty badly by the nightmares from last chapter. Kouga asks Kagome for help. Kagome gets Aria to create a 'mind-barrier' of sorts to get rid of the gruesome sights. As Aria does so, she senses that Takeo's aura left with the nightmares.**

**Ultimately:**

**SHE'S FINALLY STARTING TO WORK OUT FOR HERSELF THAT SHE ISN'T BAD... FINALLY!**

**So yeah not a lot happened but since I got this going, I _should_ be updating faster... if not, you can send me death threats...**

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	32. Chapter 32: Confusion

Everyone in the travelling group, minus Shippo and Chise, were painfully aware of the silver eyes drilling into their backs, demanding answers they didn't want to give. Kouga and Kagome had told the others about Aria's discovery, but not one of them wanted to explain to her that she wasn't actually the evil Fiera. Whether they didn't know what to say, didn't want to cause Aria to sink into depression, anger, or simply didn't want to explain the full depth of Takeo's deception, the bottom-line was, they had already decided that Aria would have to work it out for herself. However they didn't think that she'd start to figure it out so soon, and start interrogating them... well, interrogating through silent intimidation for now.

Aria herself was getting increasingly agitated. She knew something was wrong the minute she mentioned Takeo's prescence being rejected from her newly created barrier and that Kouga and Kagome had informed the others about it, but not _one_ of them would tell her why they were upset over such a thing. She was hoping to elicit an answer peacefully, but her luck didn't seem to look too fondly upon her today. When she got too restless, Aria launched into her verbal attack, when quiet questioning failed.

"Why is everyone so _quiet_ today?" she asked sarcastically, knowing full well they were avoiding speaking to her. She eyed the expressions on their faces as they processed the question. It was a mix of pretending to not hear her, avoiding her gaze and someone coughing oh-so-inconspicuously.

She searched for the weakest link in the group, when silver eyes connected with light blue._ "_Hmm..._ Kouga," _she said slowly, watching the despairing look on his face, and noticing the others turn to look at him from the corner of their eyes. "Can_ you _explain what's going on?"

Kouga seemed at a loss on what to do, when he saw Inuyasha smirking at him and was struck with a good way to avoid the topic himself.

"Why yes... actually, the mutt was just saying that _he_ wanted to tell you, right?" Kouga said, turning to Inuyasha whose smirk vanished instantly when silver eyes began to bore into his. Aria saw the suprise and anger in the half-demon's eyes, and gave a smirk of her own. She knew Kouga too well.

Picking up a branch off the ground while Kouga wasn't looking, she rapped the wood over the wolf-demon's head harshly.

"Nice try, but don't avoid the subject," she scolded him dryly, to which he scowled at her, clutching the top of his head.

She sighed this time, quite sure that she wasn't going to get any answers soon. She decided to withdraw from her questioning for now, but it didn't stop the feeling of hurt that was plaguing her thoughts. She was confused about why they wouldn't tell her what was wrong, and sad as it seemed to her that they had finally given up on trusting her.

They were silent for a few moments before Aria bit her bottom lip, turned heel and left them, going in search of the children who had run off playing games. Their naive, innocent nature took a lot off her mind in times like these. Yes she was angry, but she didn't want to be, and dwelling on that fact wasn't going to help anyone.

The others however were left behind feeling what could only be akin to guilt disguised in the name of protection.

"She's not going to let this go, is she?" Sango asked them, breaking the grim silence. They all shook their heads.

"So what _do_ we tell her?" Miroku asked, furrowing his brows in thought. And that was the question they'd been asking themselves all day.

* * *

Aria huffed as she sat with her back against a large tree in exhaustion. She _really _didn't know how those kids had so much energy. Maybe it was because she still hadn't eaten in quite some time, or maybe it had something to do with the fact they were demon children, she mused. Keeping herself distracted was getting increasingly difficult. Not only was she riddled with unanswered questions plaguing her thoughts, but the kids, who were _supposed_ to be keeping her thoughts off of last night's events, had decided to play a game called 'hide-and-seek', which meant that she had to hide, _alone_, with her thoughts, for an unknown length of time. She sighed as the questions returned to the forefront of her mind.

That had _definitely _been her brother's energy being expelled from her mind and as soon as his prescence had gone, so had the visions that had haunted her. Which meant that her brother had been the one who had put them there. But _why_?

He was the good Fiera, wasn't he? So why was he giving her that kind of torture? Sure he'd have to kill her eventually... but would he really taunt her in such a way? She wouldn't torment him like that if she was-

"Found you, Mama!" cried an enthusiastic Chise, pouncing into her mother's lap. Chise's smile didn't last long when she saw the frown over her mother's silver eyes. "What's wrong?"

"N-Nothing! Where's Shippo?" Aria asked, shaking her thoughts away. Silently berating herself for even considering that she could be the good Fiera.

The smile returned on Chise's face, "I still have to find him."

Putting on a rather strained smile, she looked back to the little girl sitting on her legs, "Okay! Let's go find him then!"

Aria noted the girl had grown quite a bit since she'd first taken her in, seeing she had grown a little taller and her clothing suddenly rather too small. The girl set off at a blinding speed, bewildering Aria briefly before she heard giggling further into the forest. Hurrying after the sound, she saw Shippo being chased around a large tree trunk by Chise, the game clearly no longer being hide-and-seek. She wondered how she could've missed Chise's speeding growth, though the thought didn't last long as the two children changed their game yet again and lunged at her. She gave a surprised 'eep' as two demon children collided into her sending her backwards.

She braced herself for impact with the ground, but instead was caught mid air. Looking up to see her saviour, she blinked dumbfoundedly up at Kouga's face.

"When did you get here?" she asked, genuinely shocked that she hadn't heard or seen him coming.

"Just now," he answered shortly.

"Oh... So, what brings you here?" she asked, trying to sound unaffected by their closeness.

"You three wandered a bit too far, the others were worried," he replied, also speaking to the two children Aria had held onto as she fell. Kouga gently pulled Aria back up to her feet and she put the kids down. She sighed as Shippo and Chise ran off again before she could stop them and Kouga laughed at her expense, leading her by the hand back to the rest site.

-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-

The rest of the day, as Aria had predicted, felt as if every second were in fact five minutes, the time passing unbearably so. The kids had tired themselves out before long, Aria carrying her small sleeping wolf-child and Shippo riding on Kirara asleep. And again, the silence returned. The Fiera sighed in exasperation.

"When will we be able to take a break?" she asked, genuinely feeling quite sleepy herself. Though when no-one answered her, she frowned at their backs.

"_Really_? You guys want to keep your little secret from my _so badly _that you're all afraid to even talk to me?" she cried, though not loud enough to wake the children.

A few of them turned to look at her apologetically, while others preferred to pretend they hadn't heard her... namely Kouga.

"This musn't be that _important_ then, if you all feel I don't _need_ to know."

"Maybe you can use that brain of yours to work it out yourself?" called Kouga from the front, not turning to face her.

"Of course! Why didn't _I_ think of that?" Aria laughed sarcastically. "Yes, I can guess _exactly _what it is no one is telling me, _especially _when I don't have any clues as to what on earth it could be. Splendid idea!"

"You do that..." Kouga replied with just as much sarcasm, continuing forward without so much as a second thought.

Silently fuming, she quietly handed Chise to Kagome, before grabbing the first thing she could use to hit him over the head with. This left everyone watching as the tiny young woman stalked up behind the wolf-demon, brandishing Miroku's staff above her head. They all winced as the staff swung down with incredible force, some even thinking they saw a flash of white energy as the weapon connected with Kouga's skull.

As Kouga was on his knees, clutching his throbbing head, he growled. Clearly, Aria was seriously pissed. That was the _second_ time today she'd hit him... And considering that recently she hadn't hit his head at all, he figured she must have hit new heights of anger today.

Aria smiled a bit too sweetly as she handed Miroku his staff back asking the group, "Could you please leave us alone for just a few minutes?"

As they backed away silently, she whipped around to glare down at the wolf-demon viciously, before she sighed tiredly and sat down in front of him, moving to lean her back against a conveniently placed large boulder. Kouga noticed her expression shift from furious to exhausted and a quick glance at her too thin arms gave him clues as to why she gave up on being angry.

"I'm too tired for this Kouga," she admitted quietly, understanding the fixed gaze he held on her thin figure. "Can't you just tell me _why_ you won't explain anything to me?"

"Why didn't you eat something when we stopped?" he questioned lightly.

Aria fumed, "Stop trying to change the subject dumbass! Why won't you tell me?"

Kouga sighed and met her silver eyes. "Because I don't know how you'll react when I tell you. Neither do the others. In fact, we all think it is in your best interests if you figure it out on your own," he told her gently, and almost immediately she scoffed. Before she could voice her objections, he continued, "Aria, please trust me."

She studied his face for a little while as if to find some reason not to trust his decision, then relented, "Okay, I will try to work it out on my own. Happy?"

He grinned wolfishly and leaned over to kiss her cheek before whispering in her ear, "Very."

Her face went a dark pink as she felt his lips brush the edges of her ear as he spoke. Kouga rushed off in a whirlwind before coming back in a few mere seconds, not leaving her any time to sort out her flustered state. He dropped a small parcel into her lap then rushed off again, saying he was going back to the others for some reason that escaped her scattered attention.

Aria blinked dumbfoundedly at both Kouga's retreating whirlwind and the small and surprisingly warm parcel in her lap. Inspecting the package more thouroughly, after her initial shock wore off, she realised it was some of the food Kagome had made earlier. Only briefly wondering how the food remained heated after so much time had passed, she shrugged off her curiousity and dug in, surprising even herself by how hungry she actually was.

Kouga had gone to retrieve the others, and by the time they had crossed the short distance back to where she was seated, she had finished the meal and was left feeling significantly better than before. Rejoining them, she quickly realised of how completely relaxed they all appeared to be compared to earlier, and then wondered what they couldn't tell her that made them so tense. She felt like she'd be wondering for quite some time before she would know just what it was that she did not understand.

* * *

_"Why do you look so sad, onii-chan?"_

She always knew exactly how he was feeling. The viperous little snake knew just how to play with his emotions. Whenever she saw he didn't feel so well, she would make her moves.

_"Hey! Onii-chan! Let's play outside!"_

He growled at the memory of a six year old Aria smiling with big silver eyes. Those eyes, deceiving and manipulating him even since then. He often wondered why she never tried to kill him whenever they went beyond the village walls, but then he came to the conclusion that she was trying to fool him by making him believe in a false sense of security.

_"Onii-chan, what does that mean?"_

Ah... This was the day that Prophet Tsuka had the vision... The news that Aria was the evil one had even shocked _him. _He had been convinced for so long that _he_ was the evil one. His sister was so happy all the time and doing her best to help others, even for the most ridiculous things that it made him feel like she was some kind of benevolent being... it was all a lie. She had fooled them all up until that point.

The memory switched to one much later on. The smile had disappeared for good and her eyes showed no hints of silver behind tear-coated eyelids fringed with wet lashes.

_"Onii-chan... What did I do wrong?"_

Everything. Her very existence was wrong. Everything from her deceptively innocent appearance to her cunning and scheming mind. How he wanted to laugh at her attempt to make him feel sympathy for her. Did she think he was stupid? She knew just as well as he, the reason why the death threats were screamed at her, why she was blamed for every misfortune that befell the villagers and why she would have to eventually die before she could grow old.

She wasn't an evil _person_.

She _was _evil.

She was the very thing that was wrong with the world. And it was his duty to be the one that stopped her before she could destroy the very earth she stood upon.

Once she had finally disappeared from their home village, he made sure that she didn't create fear in _other_ villages. Driving her out of the homes she settled into, making her see that she could not defeat him and killing those that harboured her existence before following her yet again.

Only now, she had gathered allies. A surprising number of them in such a short time. So he gathered allies of his own, ones that weren't low life demons.

He had a miko on his side, a human woman named Kikyo with great holy energy and the misfortune to have her soul disturbed from her eternal sleep and trapped in a clay replica of herself. He thought it was a good idea to have someone with similar energy to his in order to destroy his sister.

He also joined a particularly powerful half-demon named Naraku. He was not so sure such an alliance would be appropriate between such a hate-filled and murderous being, but it appeared both the miko and Naraku had similar intentions; to kill a half-demon named Inuyasha. And even though a miko and a half-demon like Naraku were natural enemies, they were united against a common purpose. So he decided to ignore Naraku's demonic lineage in order to gain his help.

In exchange for helping them get rid of Inuyasha, they would help him get rid of Aria. With luck, it seemed that his sister had made an alliance with this Inuyasha, which meant that he could eliminate the two nuisances in a single blow.

* * *

**A/N: **

***backs away nervously from angry readers***

**...**

**...**

**...**

***Aria jumps out from nowhere and throws a brick at my head... which strikes rather gruesomely***

**I'M SO SORRY! I actually have no real reason for my lateness... in three out of the four months I had plenty of time to update, and I had finished this chapter weeks ago! And what's worse is that I have my final year of school this year and the work load is already surprisingly huge so updates from here on will be sporadic...**

**I'm sorry!**

**Anyway! For those of you getting annoyed with Aria for being so dense about the obvious... including myself (i.e. in love with one wolf-demon and not being evil), don't worry! In the next couple of chapters something might happen x3**

**Also I when I finished writing that end scene with Takeo, I felt bad... Why can't I just have clearly good and bad characters? Aww... It's not Takeo's fault!... Well it kind of is... But he thinks he's doing the right thing which makes me sad!**

Thanks to the following who reviewed... and sincere apologies for the delay!:

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Now for the rest of you who hasn't reveiwed, **you can just review ANONYMOUSLY Y'KNOW?... **

**Why?**

**Because****... Actually I don't really deserve them now because I suck so badly at updating...**

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